The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (76 page)

(1564–1638).
Flemish painter, the elder son of Pieter
Bruegel
. He was born in Brussels but made his career in Antwerp, where he became a guild master in 1585. He is best known for his copies and variants of his father's peasant scenes, which sold well and are often of high quality, in contrast to the work of lesser copyists such as his son
Pieter Brueghel III
(1589–
c.
1640). His other speciality was scenes of fires, which earned him the nickname ‘Hell’ Bruegel . Frans
Snyders
was his most notable pupil.

 
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(1377–1446).
Florentine architect and sculptor. Brunelleschi was one of the most famous of all architects—a Florentine hero on account of the celebrated dome (1420–36) he built for the city's cathedral—and one of the group of artists, including
Alberti
,
Donatello
, and
Masaccio
, who created the
Renaissance
style. He trained as a goldsmith and was one of the artists defeated by another great goldsmith/sculptor, Lorenzo
Ghiberti
, in the competition (1401–2) for the new Baptistery doors for Florence Cathedral; their competition panels are in the Bargello. The disappointment of losing is said to have caused Brunelleschi to give up sculpture and turn to architecture, but one important sculptural work of later date is attributed to him—a painted wooden Crucifix in Sta Maria Novella (
c.
1412). Although he was not a painter, Brunelleschi was a pioneer of
perspective
; in his treatise on painting Alberti describes how Brunelleschi devised a method for representing objects in depth on a flat surface by means of using a single vanishing point.

 
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Brunswick Monogrammist
.

See
MASTER OF THE BRUNSWICK MONOGRAM
.

 
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brush
.

A painting or drawing implement usually consisting of flexible fibres set in a handle. Prehistoric artists used materials such as feathers and leaves and the Egyptians used a brush consisting simply of a reed with the end macerated to separate the fibres, but animal hairs have been used since the ancient Greeks and are still the most important materials. For watercolour painting the ‘sable’ brush (made from the fur of the Siberian mink) is the best type; the ‘camel-hair’ brush (usually made from squirrel hair) is cheaper, but lacks springiness and durability. For oil painting a stiffer type of brush is needed; the best quality ones are made of white hog bristles. See also
PENCIL
.

 
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Brygos Painter
.

Greek
red-figure vase painter
, active in Athens (
c.
500–
c.
475BC), named after a potter called Brygos, several of whose signed works he decorated. He is best known for a cup in the Louvre depicting the
Sack of Troy
. Showing consummate mastery of composition and movement, it is regarded as one of the masterpieces of Greek painting and is sometimes referred to simply as ‘the Brygos cup’. More than a hundred other pieces have work attributed to the artist.

 
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Bryulov , Karl
,
(or Brülloff Karl or Briulov Karl)

(1799–1852).
Russian painter. He spent part of his life in Italy (1822–34 and 1849–52), where he painted his chief work,
The Last Day of Pompeii
(Russian Mus., St Petersburg, 1830–3), inspired by a performance of the opera of that name by Giovanni Pacini . An enormous (6m. wide) melodramatic composition, it brought him European fame and inspired Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel
The Last Days of Pompeii
(1834).

 
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