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Frans Vandewalle | all galleries >> Galleries >> Pieter Bruegel the Elder > Bruegel the Elder, Children's Games
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6 December 2011 Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Bruegel the Elder, Children's Games

Vienna

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca 1525-1569), Children's Games, 1559-60, oil on wood, 118 x 161 cm.
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

@@@@ Definition of the games/Bedeutung der Kinderspiele @@@@ (Source: Wikipedia.org)

Left above in the window: Wearing masks for fun & Hanging seat - Maskenspiel & Schaukeln

In the foreground, left corner: Knucklebones - Steinchenspiel

Above: Playing with dolls - Puppenspiel

To the right: Shell bobbin, Soap bubbles, Playing with birds & Dice rattle - Drehspule, Seifenblasen, Mit Vögel spielen & Würfelkinderrassel (also further on detail 1)

To the right: Mock baptismal - Taufprozession

Above: Blind man’s bluff game - Blinde Kuhspiel

To the right: Morra game - Gerade oder Ungerade

Below: Pope’s seat game - Der Sitz des Papstes (also on detail 2)

Below: Hobby-horse, Playing flute and drums & Stirring excrements with a stick - Steckenpferd, Flöte und Trommel spielen & Mit einem Stock in Exkrementen stochern (also further on detail 2)

To the right: Hoop rolling, Shouting into the barrel, Hoop rolling with bells & Inflating a pig’s bladder - Reifentreiben, Durch ein Loch in ein Fass rufen, Reifen mit Glöckchen & Eine Schweineblase aufblasen

Riding the barrel - Auf einem Fass reiten

Riding piggyback - Huckepack (also on detail 3)

Left corner: To play shop - Kaufmannsladen spielen (also on detail 3)

Above: Mumblety-peg game & Building with bricks - Taschenmesserwerfen & Bauklötzespiel (also on detail 3)

To the left: Bouncing someone’s buttocks - Den Hintern schaukeln (also on detail 3)

Middle ground, to the right: Pulling hair - Sich an den Haaren ziehen (also on detail 3)

Above: Catching insects - Insekten fangen (also on detail 3)

To the left: Raisinbread man - Stutenkerl (also on detail 3)

To the left: Throwing hats through one’s open legs - Hüte werfen (also on details 3 & 6)

Leapfrog game - Bockspringen (also further on detail 5)

Rider tournament - Reiterkampf (also further on detail 5)

Passing through kicking legs - Gassenlaufen (also on detail 4)

Over the fence: Contort the body like a wheel, Handstand & Child’s Somersault - Sich verknoten, Kopfstehen & Purzelbaum (also on detail 4)

Fence riding - Auf dem Zaun reiten (also on detail 4)

To the right: Mock wedding - Hochzeitsprozession (also on detail 4)

Piñata game & Walk on stilts - Piñata-Spiel & Stelzenlaufen

@ For definition of the background games, see details 7, 8 and 9 @

For several details of the painting, see next pictures


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Walter Otto Koenig06-Nov-2016 17:41
This is one of my favorite paintings by Bruegel. It is much more complex than it seems at first sight. I read an excellent book about it which may be of interest to you by Edward Snow: "Inside Bruegel: The Play of Images in Children's Games". The painting also appears prominently in the Peter Greenaway film " Drowning by Numbers." Thanks for posting this.
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