The Census at Bethlehem
1566 · Oil on oak panel · Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
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About this work
- Artist
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569)
- Year
- 1566
- Medium
- Oil on oak panel
- Original size
- 115.5 × 163.5 cm
- Collection
- Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
A Flemish village lies under snow at sundown: people crowd round an inn at the left, where a clerk takes names and payments beneath a sign with the Habsburg double-headed eagle, a pig is slaughtered, children skate and sledge on the frozen pond, and among the travellers Joseph leads the Virgin, wrapped in blue, on a donkey with an ox beside them. The subject, from the Gospel of Luke, is the Roman census that brought them to Bethlehem, but Bruegel sets it in the Brabant of his own day, and the scene can be read as a comment on the burden of taxation. He signed and dated the panel BRVEGEL 1566 at the lower right. It belongs to a short run of snow landscapes he painted in the mid-1560s, among them The Hunters in the Snow, often linked to the very hard winter of 1564–1565, and the subject had rarely been painted before. The ruined castle at the top right is based on the towers and gates of Amsterdam. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium bought it at the Edmond Huybrechts sale in Antwerp in 1902.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A snowy village at sundown crowded with small figures, skaters and carts, white and brown under a pale sky, for a hallway, living room or dining room at 36×24 in black. A warm white, grey or deep red wall; it pairs with The Hunters in the Snow.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (1566)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- dramatic, moody
- Rooms
- living room, dining room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 36×24. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Census at Bethlehem in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Census at Bethlehem painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
