Obverse. Photo © Historia Hamburg
  • 2 Euro 2019, KM# 387, Belgium, Philippe, 450th Anniversary of Death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
  • 2 Euro 2019, KM# 387, Belgium, Philippe, 450th Anniversary of Death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
  • 2 Euro 2019, KM# 387, Belgium, Philippe, 450th Anniversary of Death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Coincard (front)
  • 2 Euro 2019, KM# 387, Belgium, Philippe, 450th Anniversary of Death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Coincard (back)
Description

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1530 – 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker from Brabant, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so called genre painting); he was a pioneer in making both types of subject the focus in large paintings.

He was a formative influence on Dutch Golden Age painting and later painting in general in his innovative choices of subject matter, as one of the first generation of artists to grow up when religious subjects had ceased to be the natural subject matter of painting. He also painted no portraits, the other mainstay of Netherlandish art.

He is sometimes referred to as "Peasant Bruegel", to distinguish him from the many later painters in his family, including his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564–1638). From 1559, he dropped the 'h' from his name and signed his paintings as Bruegel; his relatives continued to use "Brueghel" or "Breughel".

Obverse

Depicts a portrait of Pieter Bruegel the Elder in front of his oil painting The Tower of Babel (1563, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam) on the easel.

The paintings depict the construction of the Tower of Babel, which, according to the Book of Genesis in the Bible, was built by unified, monolingual humanity as a mark of their achievement and to prevent them from scattering: "Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.'" (Genesis 11:4).

The inscription and dates above, the country code (BE for Belgium), the mint and privy marks on the left. The outer ring depicts the twelve stars of the European flag.

• Royal Dutch Mint's mintmark: Caduceus or Mercury's wand, a short staff entwined by two serpents
• Royal Belgian Mint Director's privy mark: Coat of arms of the municipality Herzele (Ingrid Van Herzele)
• Engraver: Luc Luycx

P. BRUEGEL
1569†
2019
BE
LL

Reverse

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

2 EURO
LL

Edge

The sequence "2 ★ ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted

2 ★ ★ 2 ★ ★ 2 ★ ★ 2 ★ ★ 2 ★ ★ 2 ★ ★

2 Euro

450th Anniversary of Death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder

KM# 387 LA# BEM-8.26
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Characteristics
Type Commemorative Issue (Non-circulating)
Material Bi-Metallic
Ring Cupronickel
Center Nickel Brass
Weight 8.5 g
Diameter 25.75 mm
Thickness 2.2 mm
Shape round
Alignment Medal
Mint
Royal Dutch Mint (KNM)

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