Artwork
Winter Landscape with a Bird-trap
Winter Landscape with a Bird-trap is an oil painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. It dates from 1601 and is held in the collection of the Museo del Prado.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Winter Landscape with a Bird-trap is a winter landscape by Pieter Brueghel the Younger that depicts a snow-covered scene populated by men and women, with figures shown ice skating and a bird trap set into the icy terrain. The combination of winter leisure activities and the small bird trap reflects a Netherlandish tradition of moralizing winter scenes, in which the precarious lure of the trap echoes the fragility of human pleasure on thin ice. The painting adapts the iconographic formula of a related Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, translating that composition into Brueghel the Younger's own treatment of seasonal allegory.
The work belongs to the broader genre of winter landscape painting associated with the Bruegel family, in which everyday peasant activities, frozen waterways, and small symbolic devices such as traps are woven into a meditation on the hardships and fleeting amusements of the cold season.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in oil paint on a wooden support, measuring 40 cm in height and 57 cm in width.
The work is executed in oil paint on a wooden support, measuring 40 cm in height and 57 cm in width. Pieter Brueghel the Younger rendered a winter scene featuring figures on ice, a bird trap, and a landscape rendered with meticulous brushwork characteristic of the Flemish tradition. The composition emphasizes spatial depth and atmospheric perspective, aligning with the genre of landscape painting as documented in the painting’s provenance and material specifications.
History & Provenance
Winter Landscape with a Bird-trap was painted by Pieter Brueghel the Younger in 1601, executed in oil paint as a landscape composition. The work is based on an earlier Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, indicating it was produced as a studio adaptation of a related design rather than an independent commission.
The documented ownership chain begins with Philip V of Spain, followed by Elisabeth Farnese and then Charles III of Spain. The painting subsequently passed into the hands of Ferdinand VII of Spain. It is now held in the collection of the Museo del Prado, with associated locations recorded at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez and the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, suggesting the work was at various points housed within the Spanish royal residences before entering the museum's holdings.
Winter Landscape with a Bird-trap is held in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, inventoried as oil on panel with dimensions 40 × 57 cm.
The painting entered the Spanish royal collection by 1746, recorded in an inventory of the Palacio de la Granja de San Ildefonso under the name Paisaje de invierno con un cepo para pájaros attributed to Pieter Brueghel the Younger. It later passed to the Museo del Prado following the transfer of royal holdings in 1839, where it remains in the permanent collection.
Overview
Pieter Brueghel the Younger painted Winter Landscape with a Bird‑trap in 1601. The oil work presents a frozen village scene populated by skaters, children at play, and a modest wooden bird‑trap partially buried in snow. Snow‑laden trees and low‑roofed houses frame a distant church spire, creating a compact winter tableau that reflects everyday life in a Flemish setting.
Context
Winter genre scenes were popular in the Low Countries, offering viewers a familiar view of seasonal customs. Brueghel the Younger’s work follows this tradition, echoing the detailed village life portrayed by his father, yet it introduces a distinct focus on everyday winter pastimes and the practical aspects of survival, such as the bird‑trap, within a single cohesive landscape.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Pieter Brueghel the Younger ( BROY-gəl, also US: BROO-gəl; Dutch:; between 23 May and 10 October 1564 – between March and May 1638) was a Flemish painter known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Bruegel the…
