The Harvesters
1565 · Oil on oak panel · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
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About this work
- Artist
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569)
- Year
- 1565
- Medium
- Oil on oak panel
- Original size
- 119 × 162 cm
- Collection
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
- Series
- The Seasons (1565)
Peasants cut and stack golden wheat on a hillside on a hot day in late summer; in the foreground a group eats bread, porridge and pears under a pear tree while a man sleeps beside them, and the land falls away past a village, a church and a pond with bathers to a hazy bay with ships. Bruegel painted the panel in Antwerp in 1565 as part of a series of six on the times of the year, commissioned by the merchant banker Nicolaes Jonghelinck for his house. Five survive: The Gloomy Day, The Hunters in the Snow and The Return of the Herd in Vienna, Haymaking in Prague and this one. In 1594 the city of Antwerp gave the set to Archduke Ernst, Governor of the Netherlands; the set is believed to have passed to Emperor Rudolf II the following year. The focus on ordinary work rather than a religious story makes it an important early landscape. The Metropolitan Museum of Art bought it in 1919.
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
Golden wheat fields under a hot pale sky with resting harvesters under a pear tree and a hazy bay beyond, for a kitchen, dining room or living room at 32×24 in natural wood. An ochre, cream or sage wall; it pairs with The Hunters in the Snow.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (1565)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, kitchen, dining 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
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Harvesters in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Harvesters 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.
The full-bleed edition
The painting printed edge to edge, filling the whole sheet (very slightly cropped to fit).






























