The Harvesters
The Harvest
Pieter Bruegel the Elder · 1565
01
Antwerp. 1565.
A merchant orders the year. In six panels.
Five survive.
This one is the harvest.
02
A path cut through the wheat.
A man climbs out with a jug.
Lunch is here.
03
Nine people in the shade of a pear tree.
Bowls. Bread.
One tips the jug straight back.
04
One man has stopped altogether.
Flat out against the tree. Mouth open.
Nobody wakes him.
05
Sheaves stand in the stubble.
The year's wealth, stacked.
By February 1566, the painting was collateral too.
The whole field.
Uncropped.
“He painted many things that cannot be painted.”
1809
Napoleon's army takes Vienna.
The painting leaves the imperial collection.
Its next owner: Andréossy, the city's French governor.
Paris, 1816. Sold at auction.
The Met buys it in 1919.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Flemish · Northern Renaissance · c. 1525 to 1569
Sources · 6