The Return of the Herd
1565 · Oil on oak panel · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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About this work
- Artist
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525–1569)
- Year
- 1565
- Medium
- Oil on oak panel
- Original size
- 117 × 159 cm
- Collection
- Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
- Series
- The Seasons (1565)
Herdsmen drive their cattle home down a hillside towards a village in late autumn; the trees are almost bare, and beyond the river valley rise steep, rocky mountains under a dark, gathering sky. It belongs to the series on the times of the year that Bruegel painted in Antwerp in 1565 for the merchant Nicolaes Jonghelinck, of which five survive, and stands for the months of October and November. The Alpine scenery recalls the drawings Bruegel made on his journey through the Alps to Italy in the 1550s. Traces of his signature remain at the lower left. Like The Gloomy Day and The Hunters in the Snow, it passed with the series in 1594 from the city of Antwerp to Archduke Ernst, then to Emperor Rudolf II and to the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. The three Vienna panels hang together in the Kunsthistorisches Museum; Haymaking is in Prague and The Harvesters in New York.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Cattle driven down an autumn hillside past bare trees towards a winding river and craggy mountains, russet, olive and slate, for a living room, study or hallway at 24×36 in natural wood. A sage, warm grey or rust wall; it pairs with The Hay Wain.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (1565)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, hallway or entryway, study or library, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
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 Return of the Herd in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Return of the Herd painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
