Pieter Brueghel II
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 31 × 21.4 cm (12 1/4 × 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
268315
Art Historical Context
This exquisite engraving, titled *Pieter Brueghel II* and created by Flemish engraver Aegidiuseler II in 1606, captures the likeness of the renowned painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564–8). Sadeler, part of a prominent family of engravers who worked across Europe including Prague's imperial court, specialized in intricate portraits that preserved the images of artists, nobles, and scholars. Produced on high-quality ivory laid paper—a smooth, durable medium prized for fine prints—this 31 × 21.4 cm sheet exemplifies the technical precision of early 17th-century printmaking. Engraving, Sade...
About the Artist
Aegidius Sadeler, II · 1570–1629
Aegidius Sadeler II was born in Antwerp around 1570 into the most distinguished printmaking dynasty of the sixteenth century. The Sadeler family — spanning Jan I, Raphael, and Aegidius I — dominated the European print trade from their Flemish base, and Aegidius II was trained by his uncle Jan Sadeler I, under whom he was listed as a pupil in the records of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1585. He...