The long cold winter

“Hunters in the Snow” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder.

It’s been a long winter. Cold, snowy, windy, the kind of bone-chilling weather that makes you want to hibernate.

Many artists have painted snowy landscapes through the years, but few measure up to the classic “Hunters in the Snow” by Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Bruegel was a Renaissance painter from the Netherlands, who lived between 1525 and 1569. This magnificent painting is 63 inches wide (160 cm), and manages to portray an entire village in all its lively frozen detail. This is one town that did not hibernate.

You can see this painting even closer with the Google Art Project, where you can zoom in really close on the detail. Here’s the link. The site has hundreds of other paintings that you can view up close, it’s an amazing virtual museum.

I’ve been neglecting this blog for a while, but now that spring is on the horizon, I plan to get back into the swing of things. I’ve got some great posts planned for the coming weeks, so check back again soon!

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