# The Rabbit Hunters

**Pieter Bruegel** (Netherlandish, c. 1525/30–1569)  
1560  
etching on laid paper  
overall: 21.4 x 29.2 cm (8 7/16 x 11 1/2 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1972.16.1. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.53148.html).

## About this work

In a vast landscape that stretches from a castle on a cliff to a distant city and an estuary dotted with sailboats, a hunter creeps up on two rabbits, while behind him a second figure approaches, as if the hunter were himself being stalked. This is the only etching Pieter Bruegel the Elder is known to have made with his own hand; most of his prints were engraved by professionals after his drawings and published by Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp. The quick, free line shows his touch directly, and the small drama of hunter and hunted has invited many interpretations.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Pieter Bruegel made this in 1560, aged 35. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

The image shows a landscape with a city in the distance, a castle on a cliff, fields, forests, and two figures with a dog hunting. There are sailboats on water and houses on farmland. The style is detailed with etching lines in sepia tones.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Etching.** The artist draws with a needle through a waxy coating on a copper plate, and acid bites the exposed lines. The plate is then inked, wiped and printed under pressure, so the line keeps the freedom of drawing.
- **Laid paper.** Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.

### [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: Print
- The artist was 35
- Real size: about 8½ × 11 in (21 × 29 cm). The 8 × 10 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 16th century
- Subjects: Landscape, Hunting, River, fantasy
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1558.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1558/1920.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; 20 × 30 in $148
- 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-rabbit-hunters-nga-53148).