# The Harvesters

**Pieter Bruegel** (Netherlandish, c. 1525/30–1569)  
1565  
Oil on oak  
Overall, including added strips at top, bottom, and right, 46 7/8 x 63 3/4 in. (119 x 162 cm); original painted surface 45 7/8 x 62 7/8 in. (116.5 x 159.5 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 19.164. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435809).

## About this work

In the heat of late summer, peasants break for a midday meal under a pear tree, sharing bread and fruit, while one man sprawls asleep and others go on scything and binding the golden wheat. Beyond, the landscape opens onto a village, a church and a distant harbour. Bruegel painted this panel in 1565 as one of a series of six showing the times of the year for the Antwerp merchant Niclaes Jongelinck; five survive. Its sweeping view and down-to-earth observation of rural labour made it a landmark in the history of landscape painting.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Pieter Bruegel painted this in 1565, aged 40. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil on panel.** Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Pieter Bruegel](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/pieter-bruegel)

Netherlandish, c. 1525/30–1569; died in Brussels

Bruegel trained in Antwerp, travelled through Italy in the early 1550s, and on his return made drawings for the publisher Hieronymus Cock, many in the manner of Hieronymus Bosch. In 1563 he moved to Brussels. His paintings of peasant festivals, proverbs and the seasons look closely at village life and landscape, and The Harvesters belongs to his series of the months painted in 1565 for the Antwerp merchant Niclaes Jongelinck. The Rabbit Hunt is the only etching he made himself.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was 40
- Real size: about 47 × 64 in (119 × 162 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 20 × 30 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 16th century
- Subjects: Food, Men, Women, Landscapes, Working, Eating
- Colour: ochre
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1066.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1066/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-harvesters-met-435809).