The Fight Between Carnival and Lent

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

1559 · Oil on oak panel · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Size4:3 ratio

Frame

$79Unframed print · made to order

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Complete the setHangs well with these two

This print

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent

Children's Games

Haymaking

3 × $79 at 32 × 24 in, unframed = $237 → $213.30 as a set · 10% included · free shipping

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Giclée-printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper

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About this work

Artist: Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569)
Year: 1559
Medium: Oil on oak panel
Original size: 118 × 164.5 cm
Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Movement: Northern Renaissance

In a town square packed with nearly two hundred figures, two processions meet in a mock joust: on the left, by the inn, fat Carnival sits astride a beer barrel with a roast pig on a spit for a lance, and on the right, by the church, gaunt Lent rides a cart pulled by a monk and a nun, holding out two herrings on a baker's peel. Around them are dancers, beggars, cripples, players, fishmongers and churchgoers, and every detail of custom has been identified by folklorists, though the simultaneity is invented. The theme, the passage from Shrove Tuesday to the forty days of fasting before Easter, goes back to medieval poems, and a print after Frans Hogenberg of 1558 is a likely precursor. Bruegel signed and dated the panel 1559 on a stone at the lower left, the year of Netherlandish Proverbs; with Children's Games of 1560, it forms a group of encyclopedic scenes of folk life. Probably owned by Emperor Rudolf II, it moved from the Habsburg treasury to the picture gallery in 1748 and hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

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 crowded town square of tiny festive and fasting figures between an inn and a church, in brick, ochre, black and white, for a dining room or kitchen at 32×24 in natural wood. A cream, ochre or sage wall; it pairs with The Feast of Saint Nicholas.

Style, size & framing detail

Style: Northern Renaissance painting
Era: 16th century (1559)
Orientation: Landscape
Mood: classic
Rooms: kitchen, dining room, living room
Good gift for: housewarming, art lovers

Size. We'd hang this one at 32×24. Prints at 16×12, 24×18, 32×24 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard; 32×24 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

• Restored in-house from the original painting — cleaned and colour-trued at museum resolution • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 16×12, 24×18, 32×24 in; every size also available framed • Framed option: wood frame in black or natural wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Printed after you order at the facility nearest you, then shipped. Standard delivery is free and takes 4–9 business days from order to door in the US, UK and EU (up to 10 elsewhere); Express takes 4–6 business days. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The image fills the print at the painting's own proportions; nothing is trimmed to fit a frame.

Is The Fight Between Carnival and Lent in the public domain?

Yes. Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by Kunsthistorisches Museum.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 16×12, 24×18 and 32×24 inches; every size is also offered framed in black or natural wood, with plexiglass and no mat. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was The Fight Between Carnival and Lent painted, and in what medium?

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent dates from 1559 and was made in oil on oak panel; the original measures 118 × 164.5 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

Across a three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 32×24 is the size that reads as one statement piece; 24×18 suits a narrower wall or a pair. For The Fight Between Carnival and Lent we'd choose 32×24. It is a landscape print, wider than it is tall, at the painting's own proportions.

About this design

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (Pieter Bruegel the Elder) — The Fight Between Carnival and Lent · Pieter Bruegel the Elder · 1559. This is a fine-art reproduction of a public-domain masterwork, shown whole and uncropped on a gallery ground, printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Every size is offered unframed or framed in black or natural wood. Part of the Madten Fine Art Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

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The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in 4–9 business days.

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