Jan Brueghel the Elder's "Landscape with Windmills"

Landscape with Windmills (1607)

Landscape with Windmills by Jan Brueghel the Elder 1607. 34 × 50 cm. Oil on panel, from the Museo del Prado, Madrid.

SUBJECT: Personal function: aesthetic expression; it possibly also has social function: social description.

SUBJECT MATTER: Flemish farmers hauling their goods along a dirt road close to windmills, nearing a storm.

FORM: Oil on panel, 34 × 50 cm. Heavy use of mid- to high-value earth tones in the foreground, and low-value pale hues in the sky and background. Dynamic, smooth contrasts in the ground and the windmills, and in the figures.

CONTENT:

Detail of the Flemish farmers

Brueghel's Landscape with Windmills mostly uses pale, low-value hues. In the foreground are the farmers and their carts, horses, and a dog. They are carefully outlined and detailed, but they remain relatively small figures in the piece. The shading and attention to detail in the figures is more dramatic than it is in the rest of the painting. We can conclude from this that he views the people in the painting as being important and detail-worthy, but not so important as to be the central idea of the piece. The idea behind it is to show them within their surroundings.

Detail of the windmills and their surroundings

The immediate surroundings are painted with earth tones in a way that makes them appear soft and warm. Brueghel was noted for using this style, in which the environment surrounding characters appeared soft and inviting. It is most likely this reason why he was often called "Velvet" Brueghel. However, like George Costanza, he was noted for his intense love of draping himself in velvet.

Jan Brueghel was a man who loved velvet with a passion

The windmills, although man-made, seem to be a natural extension of the land around them. They appear old and faded, as if they simply grow out of the ground. However, unlike the ground, they appear weak, emphasizing the fragile nature of the old windmills. The only hard contrast that they have is with the sky. Brueghel used this softness to portray the characters as working in relative harmony in their surroundings, which included the land and the windmills.

Detail of the clouds and lightning

The sky is mostly overcast with dark clouds, and it is even possible to see blue, illuminated patches created by lightning. The farmers are traveling in the direction of the storm, and it appears that the storm is also moving toward the left of the painting, set to overcast the figures. This was perhaps used to portray the farmers' lifestyles as being difficult ones, at the mercy of nature. However, in this case, a storm may help their milling.

Note: I think that the images that I used may not be as vibrant as the actual painting. Some of the other versions that I've seen have had more intensity. The image that I found was much sharper and more detailed than the others, though, so I didn't think about it at the time.