Bruegel’s “Children’s Games”

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Pieter Bruegel
The Children’s Games
Games Portrayed in ‘The Children’s Games’
Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap
Children’s Life during the Renaissance Period
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction

Parenting is one of the major challenges that face people in society. Parenting affects the childhood of an individual. Parents strive to ensure that their children become responsible adults in the future. In addition, they strive to ensure that children enjoy their childhood. Contemporary parenting is significantly different from parenting during the Renaissance period. Renaissance art portrays childhood during the period. A study of artistic impressions during the Renaissance period may provide insights into parenting and childhood during this period. Pieter Bruegel is one of the major artists whose paintings provide insights into the life of people during the Renaissance period. Bruegel’s paintings portrayed the life of peasants during that time. ‘The Children’s Games’ and ‘Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap’ are some of the most famous paintings of the artist. A study of these paintings shows the life of children during the Renaissance period. Both paintings portray children as being playful. This is regardless of the season of the year. ‘The Children’s Games’ depicts more than 200 children playing more than 80 different types of games during the warm months of the year. On the other hand, ‘Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap’ depicts children skating during winter. Skating was one of the major games during winter. The paintings show that children adapted to the weather conditions to engage in different games.

Pieter Bruegel

Pieter Bruegel is one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance period. He was born in 1525 in Breda, Netherlands. During this period, Western Europe was experiencing massive changes. Martin Luther had created the Protestant Reformation less than 10 years before the birth of Bruegel. In addition, the Catholic Church interfered with the way of life of the Europeans. The Catholic Church even determined the type of art that was suitable in various states under its influence. Therefore, the church influenced the viewpoints of most scholars during this period.

During the Renaissance period, one had to work under another experienced artist as an apprentice to gain experience. The experienced artist would teach the apprentice various styles. However, the apprentice had to come up with his style. Bruegel was Pieter Coecke van Aelst’s apprentice. Van Aelst was an experienced Flemish court painter. Bruegel traveled to Italy and various cities in Europe when he was in his 20s before finally settling permanently in Brussels (Kleiner 550). His travels enriched his knowledge of various forms of Renaissance art.

Bruegel’s paintings were mainly landscapes and scenes of peasant life. He usually dressed as a peasant to mingle freely with peasants during weddings and other celebrations. This made him earn the nickname ‘Peasant Bruegel’. Mingling with peasants enabled Bruegel to gain inspiration and obtain authentic details for his paintings on peasants’ way of life.

Bruegel did some of his paintings during his travels across Europe. The paintings depict the regions he visited during his travel. Some of the earliest surviving works of Bruegel are two paintings that date back to 1552. The paintings depict the Italian landscape. These two works show the magnificence of high mountains. This was similar to the paintings of other major artists during this period. However, Bruegel did very few landscape paintings on location. He did most of the paintings upon his return to Antwerp. Bruegel had a distinct style. He created a story from the landscape paintings by merging several different scenes in one painting (Pieter Bruegel the Elder 2).

Most of Bruegel’s paintings were genre paintings. Genre paintings usually depict scenes from everyday life. Bruegel’s genre paintings focused on peasants’ way of life. During Bruegel’s time, very few artists made peasants focus on their genre paintings. Therefore, the focus on peasants made his paintings unique. Bruegel’s paintings depicted the customs of peasants, who mostly lived in villages. As a result, a study of Bruegel’s paintings may provide insights into the social and physical aspects of the life of people during the 16^th century.

‘Netherlandish Proverbs’ and ‘Children’s Games’ are some of the most famous paintings by Bruegel. ‘Netherlandish Proverbs’ provides several beliefs of people during the period. Some of the beliefs are still common among the modern-day Dutch. On the other hand, ‘Children’s Games’ shows various amusements of young people during the period. Bruegel’s winter landscapes provide insights into the weather at that time. Various parties use the paintings as proof of the severity of the winters. Bruegel’s paintings also depicted the social protest during the period. ‘The Fight between Carnival and Lent’ is, for example, one of the paintings that showed social protest.

The Children’s Games

‘Children’s Games is one of Bruegel’s few surviving paintings. [Figure 1.1] The painting shows children of all ages playing different games. The painting is a depiction of the youth during the period. Bruegel painted the oil-on-panel artwork in 1560. Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum currently exhibits the painting. This painting stretches to a distant background and includes more than 200 children playing more than 80 games. The foreground of the painting shows children playing in a major street in a town. The main street runs diagonally across the painting. The upper left corner of the painting illustrates a river and the lush countryside. The river runs parallel to the street. The representation of the foreground is similar to the background. The diagonal street encourages the viewer to move continuously across the painting (Corran 48).

Some of the games that children in ‘Children’s Games play include spin hoops, handstands, leap-frog, hide and seek, blowing bubbles, and blind man’s bluff. The children are playing in a large open area. In addition, they have taken over a magnificent civic building in the town. By taking over the building, Bruegel shows that adults are also children in the sight of God. Bruegel did not simply intend to compile a list of the games that children of that epoch played. Instead, he strived to show the children were seriously engrossed in the games. This is comparable to the seriousness of adults in their pursuits. The painting shows that one may compare mankind to children who are usually deeply engrossed in their games and worries (Sullivan and Bruegel 87).

Games Portrayed in ‘The Children’s Games’

The left foreground of the painting shows children wearing adult masks. They wear masks to disguise themselves. The children in the foreground wear masks to scare their playmates. The playmates of the children scramble in fear. There is also a child wearing an adult mask at a window of the central civic building. However, the child does not seem to scare other children (Snow 108).

The center of the painting shows three children riding a fence. In addition, the left foreground of the painting also shows boys riding a barrel. This shows that riding was one of the most favorite entertainments of the children. At the left middle ground of the painting, a boy is climbing a fence. These games show the physical agility of the children.

From the painting, it is clear that walking on stilts was one of the major games of the children during the period. The children could walk on stilts of varying heights. In the middle of the painting, a boy is walking on short stilts. In addition, a boy is walking on high stilts near the civic building. A young girl is cheering the boy. Walking on stilts requires physical agility and bravery.

Blowing bubbles was one of the major games of children during the period. In the left foreground of the painting, a boy is blowing a bubble. The children are blowing soap bubbles using clay pipes. This proves that playing with bubbles is one of the oldest games among children.

The top right corner of the painting shows children playing hide and seek. The game involves a certain number of players hiding while one or more players seek them. Hide and seek is still one of the most popular games among children.

The left bottom of the painting shows children playing ‘knucklebones.’ This game involved playing with five small objects. Originally, players used to play with the knucklebones of sheep. This is where the game derived its name. Games that involved bones were usually popular around October. Slaughtering of livestock during this season provided children with many bones (Orrock 14).

Climbing trees is one of the oldest activities practiced by children. The top left corner of the painting shows a child climbing a tree. Children usually climb trees for fun. However, adults do not usually climb trees for fun. Hat throwing is also one of the games of the children in the painting. A group of children at the middle ground of the painting is throwing hats (Orrock 12).

The foreground of the painting shows two children rolling hoops. Hoops have formed an integral part of child play throughout history. Children may throw, roll, or twirl hoops. The left middle ground of the painting shows a boy doing a headstand (Sullivan and Bruegel 81).

During the 16^th and 17^th centuries, several manuscripts depicted children’s games. The borders of calendars had a few children’s games. Bruegel amalgamated these games to produce a painting that depicted a variety of children’s games. This portrayed the children’s culture (Orrock 12).

The painting depicts children as being very active. The painting shows the children engaging in activities that require physical agility. The paintings also show children engaging in various games that involved social interaction. This may be an indication of the social cohesion during this period. All the children in the painting are properly dressed. The clothes of all the children are clean. In the painting, boys do not have unkempt hair. Several boys wear hats. This is an indication of the hygienic lifestyle of the children (Orrock 15).

Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap

‘Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap’ (1565) is a painting that depicts a rural village during winter. [Figure 2] The village has snow-capped houses. The mist prevents a clear view of a city in the background. The painting shows the pleasures enjoyed by residents of the village during winter. Several people are skating on ice. At the top right corner of the painting, there is a large crow perched on a branch. In addition, there are two crows perched on a branch in the foreground of the painting. The crows are of the same size as the people skating on the snow. At the bottom right corner of the picture, there is a trap. The size of the crows is not a coincidence. Bruegel may have used the size of the crows to show that the humans on the ice and the crows have the same fate (Cohn 212).

‘Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap’ depicts the freedom of children. The children are having fun on the ice. In the painting, the children are playing a game that is similar to ice hockey. This painting is similar to ‘The Children’s Games.’ In both paintings, children are having fun. However, one painting shows the hot months of the year, whereas the other one represents winter weather. This shows that a game is one of the major activities of children. ‘Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap’ shows that children are as free as birds. However, despite their freedom, they may face certain dangers. The trap at the bottom right corner of the painting may catch the birds. On the other hand, the skaters may fall into thin ice or incur injuries while skating. However, these risks do not stop the children or birds from enjoying their freedom.

Children’s Life during the Renaissance Period

Family life during the Renaissance period was significantly different from modern life. Parenting also differed from modern-day parenting. In addition, children had different roles in the family and society. During the Renaissance, parents treated their children as miniature adults. As soon as children were old enough to talk, parents would dress them as adults. During this period, clothing was usually a status symbol of an individual in society. Therefore, children from wealthy families usually were dressed in fancy clothing. Young children of both genders usually wore dresses. On the other hand, older boys wore trousers (Orrock 15).

During the Renaissance period, society spoke and treated children like adults. However, children engaged in child play. They usually had toys that would keep them busy. Dolls and string puppets were the major toys of the children. When children were seven or eight years old, they abandoned the toys and started performing various tasks within the family. Parents kept toddlers in wooden walkers. This prevented them from wandering off and injuring themselves. This is because the environment in the house was full of dangerous appliances and fires.

During the Renaissance period, education was mainly for the wealthy. Parents focused on educating their male children. They could either send the children to college or hire a private tutor. When boys were about seven years old, the French nobility usually sent them to the castle to learn the ways of men. While in the castles, the boys would learn hawking, fighting, and riding. In addition, philosophers and scholars taught the boys also learnt arithmetic and philosophy (Heywood 165). Poor families usually sent their sons to work in wealthy households as servants. On the other hand, most girls stayed at home. Their mothers would teach the skills that were necessary for running their own families. Generally, girls received little education. Very few girls received an education that was comparable to that of boys. Society usually consigned girls and women to domestic work. Generally, older children helped in increasing the income of the household. Therefore, boys helped their fathers by intending fields or operating merchant shops. On the other hand, girls helped their mothers in domestic work and small businesses that were the sources of income for the family.

Children usually led an unnoticed life. Mothers and wet nurses usually helped in educating the children. Therefore, they were responsible for maintaining the hygiene of the children. Erasmian ideas, which were based on biblical teachings, usually influenced people’s perception of hygiene during this period. Mothers and wet nurses bathed the children using wooden tubs. Neglect of the hygiene of children increased infant mortality during this period (Classen 397).

During the Renaissance period, parents did not pamper their children. They treated them like miniature adults. In addition, the parents did not bring up their children by themselves. Instead, they relied on wet nurses, religious leaders, or social commentators in nurturing their children. Therefore, parents may have had very little influence on children when they were young. When boys reached the age of seven or eight years, the parents sent them to distant locations to learn how to become men. The boys would return to their homes when they were teenagers. The long period of separation made it difficult for fathers to form a strong relationship with their sons. Peasant parents brought up their daughters to provide help within the household. On the other hand, wealthy parents brought up their daughters while preparing them to become ladies. Parents used marriage to improve their status in society. Therefore, parents always strived to marry off their children to wealthier families. Some families planned the marriages of their children when they were still infants (Hanawalt 96). Therefore, families viewed their children primarily as a source of wealth and status in society.

Parenting during the Renaissance period was significantly different from modern-day parenting. Currently, the World Health Organization prohibits parents from viewing their children as miniature adults. In addition, children currently have several inalienable rights. Most countries ensure that children have the right to quality education and access to healthcare. In addition, it is illegal for parents to mistreat their children. Contemporary parents usually pamper their children and strive to protect them from the evils of society. Even though parents in the Renaissance period did not pamper their children, mothers usually loved the children. However, they did not take parenting seriously. Therefore, children during the period were on their own mainly. Their parents did not instill positive attributes among the children at an early age. Currently, parents take parenting very seriously. Therefore, they strive to instill positive attributes among the children at an early age. These attributes guarantee the future well-being of the children. In addition, modern parents do not view children primarily as a source of wealth and status in society. They strive to ensure that children lead a prosperous life in the future so that they may become responsible adults.

Conclusion

Scholars study artworks from different times to determine the social interactions during the period. A critical appraisal of the artworks provides insights into the life of people during those stages. In the past, artists usually had a higher level of education than the general population. Therefore, their artworks portrayed the glue that held the society together. Parenting is one of the social interactions that help in improving the welfare of society. Good parenting guarantees the future well-being of society.

Bibliography

Bonan, Gordon. Ecological Climatology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.

Classen, Albrecht. Childhood in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: The Results of a Paradigm Shift in the History of Mentality. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2005. Print.

Cohn, Marjorie. A Noble Collection: The Spencer Albums of Old Master Prints. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Art Museums, 1992. Print.

Corrain, Lucia. The Art of the Renaissance. London: The Oliver Press, 2008. Print.

Hanawalt, Barbara. The Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. Print.

Heywood, Colin. A History of Childhood: Children and Childhood in the West from Medieval to Modern Times (Themes in History). Mayland: Wiley, 2013. Print.

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.

Orrock, Amy. “Homo ludens: Pieter Bruegel’s Children’s Games and the Humanist Educators.” Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. 4.2 (2012): 1-20. Print.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder. n.d.

“Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s “Children’s Games” [Painting]” n.d. JPEG file. Web.

Snow, Edward. Inside Bruegel: The Play of Images in Children’s Games. New York: North Point, 1997. Print.

Sullivan, Margaret and Pieter Bruegel. Bruegel and the creative process, 1559-1563. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2010. Print.

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