The Census at Bethlehem by Pieter Bruegel the Elder was created in 1566. The painting is in Musee Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique. The size of the work is 115,5 x 163,5 cm and is made of oil on wood.
The painting shows Bethlehem as a Flemish village in winter at sundown. A group of people is gathered at a building on the left, having their details taken down by a scribe. A sign bearing the Habsburg double-headed eagle is visible on the building. Other people are making their way to the same building, including the figures of Joseph and the pregnant Virgin Mary on a donkey. A pig is being slaughtered, though of course such an event would never have occurred in Jewish Bethlehem. People are going about their daily business in the cold, children are shown playing with toys on the ice and having snowball fights. (Read more in Wikipedia)
About the Artist: Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder was born in Breda. Bruegel was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes; he was a pioneer in making both types of subject the focus in large paintings. Between 1545 and 1550 he was a pupil of Pieter Coecke. In 1551 Bruegel became a free master in the Guild of Saint Luke of Antwerp… Read more
You can order this work as an art print on canvas from canvastar.com
