Artwork
Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap
Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap is an oil painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger. It dates from 1601 and is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work captures the daily life and seasonal pastimes of people in a cold environment, integrating human figures with the natural setting of ice and snow.
The painting depicts a winter scene populated by men and women engaging in recreational activities on a frozen surface. Specific figures are shown ice skating and playing a game resembling curling. A central element of the composition is a bird trap, which serves as a focal point within the landscape.
The work captures the daily life and seasonal pastimes of people in a cold environment, integrating human figures with the natural setting of ice and snow.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1601, this landscape is rendered in oil paint on a wooden panel support. The work measures 39 cm in height and 57 cm in width. Stylistically, the composition depicts a winter scene populated by figures engaged in ice skating and curling, alongside a prominent bird trap.
The painting is identified as a work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, created within the circle of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, upon whose original composition this version is based. The detailed rendering of human activity on frozen waterways characterizes the genre approach of the artist.
History & Provenance
The painting Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap was created in 1601 by Pieter Brueghel the Younger. Executed in oil on panel, the work depicts a winter scene featuring figures ice skating and a bird trap. Historically, the piece entered the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria.
It is currently held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where it remains part of the institution's holdings of landscape paintings from the circle of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap is held in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. According to Wikidata records, the painting was formerly owned by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria before entering the museum's holdings. The work, dated 1601 and executed in oil on panel, measures 39 by 57 cm. No specific inventory or accession number, nor any documented exhibition history, is provided in the available sources.
Overview
Created in 1601, this oil on canvas presents a winter village scene rendered by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, a Flemish artist active at the turn of the 17th century. The composition captures a frozen landscape populated by skaters, a solitary figure, and a concealed bird trap, all set against a backdrop of bare, snow‑laden trees and modest dwellings. The work belongs to the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Context
The work belongs to the broader Dutch Golden Age landscape tradition, wherein artists documented seasonal activities and rural life. By integrating a bird trap, a common element in Flemish genre scenes, Brueghel the Younger connects the painting to contemporary concerns about survival, hunting, and the rhythms of winter in the Low Countries.
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…
