Gravata Sermon of St John the Baptist by Pieter Bruegel

The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566, is an oil and tempera painting of an enormous crowd gathered around the New Testament Saint John the Baptist. Set in a dense forest landscape, the many realistic details of figures and details of costume are taken from Bruegel’s Renaissance era. Saint John is quietly shadowed in the center of the composition. Almost unnoticeable at first, the figure of Jesus Christ stands close to John’s side in pale robes. Pieter Bruegel (Brueghel) the Elder (c. 1525 - 1569) was a Dutch/Flemish painter and printmaker of the Northern Renaissance. Among the first artists to incorporate subject matter from landscape and the life of common people, Bruegel all but invented the art of Dutch genre painting. Bruegel painted a number of religious works but is best known for his lively, allegorical paintings of peasants and witty commentary and on life, sin and virtue. His innovative compositions and carefully observed, realistic details influenced many generations of artists, from Rembrandt through the Realists of the modern era.