Description
Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Rabbit Hunt sets a small pursuit within an expansive river valley. A hunter aims his crossbow toward two rabbits while his dog remains alert nearby. Another man circles behind a tree with a spear, introducing an uncertainty that the peaceful landscape does not entirely resolve. The wide setting and the concentrated action establish different rhythms within the same image.
Etched by Bruegel himself in 1560 and published by Hieronymus Cock, the print allows a particularly free movement of line across the landscape. The scene may allude to a proverb about losing both rabbits when pursuing two at once, but its meaning remains open. That ambiguity gives the image much of its interest: ordinary hunting becomes a scene in which intention, opportunity and the surrounding world do not quite align.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Pieter Bruegel collection.
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