| Bruegel specialized in landscapes populated by peasants. He is often credited as being the first Western painter to paint landscapes for their own sake, rather than as a backdrop to a religious allegory.Attention to the life and manners of peasants was rare in the arts in Breughel's time. His earthy, unsentimental but vivid depiction of the rituals of village lifeâ??including agriculture, hunts, meals, festivals, dances, and gamesâ??are unique windows on a vanished folk culture and a prime source of iconographic evidence about both physical and social aspects of 16th century life. For example, the painting Netherlandish Proverbs illustrates dozens of then-contemporary aphorisms, while Children's Games shows the variety of amusements enjoyed by young people. His winter landscapes of 1565 are taken as corroborative evidence of the severity of winters during the Little Ice Age. Name |  |