The Rabbit Hunt

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the hillside of an expansive river valley, a hunter accompanied by his alert dog aims his crossbow at two rabbits below. Another man, carrying a spear, circles around the tree behind him. The image may relate to an old proverb that warns: "He who pursues two rabbits at once, will lose both." But the actions and purpose of the man with a spear are less clear and even ominous, demonstrating the kind of ambiguity common to Bruegel's work. Based on the artist's own drawing, The Rabbit Hunt was the only print executed by Bruegel himself. With the free and subtle graphic vocabulary of etching, a technique that involves drawing with a pointed tool through a ground on the printing plate, Bruegel was able to give the landscape a vivid sense of light and atmosphere. The image thus avoids the kind of rigid tones and strong outlines characteristic of most prints executed by other artists after Bruegel's designs, and anticipates the brilliant seasonal effects achieved by the master in his late painted landscapes.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art