The Census at Bethlehem by Bruegel: Christmas in a Flemish Village, and the Holy Family You Almost Miss (1566)
It is late on a winter afternoon in a Flemish village. The sun is a red disc low behind the trees, the ponds are frozen, and a crowd is pushing at the door of an inn where a clerk writes down names and collects money. Among the people arriving, almost nobody notices a woman wrapped in a blue cloak riding a donkey, and a man walking beside her with a large saw over his shoulder. They are Mary and Joseph, and the village is Bethlehem. Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted The Census at Bethlehem in 1566, and it is one of the most original Christmas pictures ever made. The picture below is our vintage poster version of the painting; the original panel is shown further down. Vintage art poster by Sapiens Verbum after Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Census at Bethlehem , 1566 (Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels). Available from the Sapiens Verbum print shop. 🖼️ Get the vintage poster → License this image → Quick facts Artist: Pieter Bruegel the E...