A painting a day · No. 7 of 38
The Hunters in the Snow
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525–1569)
1565 · Oil on oak panel · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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The story
One of six paintings of the seasons made for an Antwerp merchant, Niclaes Jongelinck. Five survive. Tired hunters and their dogs trudge home with little to show for the day, while the village below skates on the frozen ponds.
Look closer
- The hunters carry one small fox between them.
- The inn sign on the left hangs by a single hinge.
- Follow the line of trees from the hunters down to the skaters: Bruegel builds the whole valley along one diagonal.
Did you know
It was painted during the 'Little Ice Age'. The winter of 1564–65 was one of the harshest in living memory.
Why we can show it
Pieter Bruegel the Elder died in 1569. UK copyright lasts for the artist’s life plus 70 years, so even under today’s rules this painting would have been free for anyone to show since 1640. The photograph is a faithful copy of a flat work, which creates no new copyright. We do not store the picture: it comes from Wikimedia Commons each time it is needed. More on this.