Children's Games is an oil-on-panel by Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted in 1560. It is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The entire composition is full of children playing a wide variety of games. Over 90 different games that were played by children at the time have been identified.

Description This painting, mentioned for the first time by Karel van Mander in 1604, was acquired in 1594 by Archduke Ernest of Austria. It was suggested that it was the first in a projected series of paintings representing the Ages of Man, in which Children's Games would have stood for Youth. If that was Bruegel's intention, it is unlikely that the series progressed beyond this painting, for there are no contemporary or subsequent mentions of related pictures.G. Arpino & P. Bianconi, L'opera completa di Bruegel, Rizzoli (1967).

The children, who range in age from toddlers to adolescents, roll hoops, walk on stilts, spin hoops, ride hobby-horses, stage mock tournaments, play leap-frog and blind man's bluff, perform handstands, inflate pigs' bladders and play with dolls and other toys. They have also taken over the large building that dominates the square: it may be a town hall or some other important civic building, in this way emphasizing the moral that the adults who direct civic affairs are as children in the sight of God. This crowded scene is to some extent relieved by the landscape in the top left-hand corner; but even here children are bathing in the river and playing on its banks.

The artist's intention for this work is more serious than simply to compile an illustrated encyclopedia of children's games, though some eighty particular games have been identified. Bruegel shows the children absorbed in their games with the seriousness displayed by adults in their apparently more important pursuits. His moral is that in the mind of God, children's games possess as much significance as the activities of their parents. This idea was a familiar one in contemporary literature: in an anonymous Flemish poem published in Antwerp in 1530 by Jan van Doesborch, mankind is compared to children who are entirely absorbed in their foolish games and concerns.Cf. Pietro Allegretti, Brueghel, Skira, Milano 2003.

The games Starting from bottom left, the games may be identified as follows:

Number Image Game Notes01 Playing with dolls 02 Playing 'Holy Mass' Small liturgical objects used at Mass and Liturgies03 Water gun and owl on support Shooting water at a bird04 Wearing masks Wearing disguises for fun05 Swinging from a hanging seat The classic hanging seat06 Climbing a fence 07 Handstand 08 Play the "knot" Bending the body to contorted positions09 Somersault Flipping and rolling forwards, backwards, or sideways10 Fence riding Pretending the fence is a horse11 Mock wedding It is exactly at the diagonal centre of the panel. Perhaps an irony of the holy sacrament, or a reference to the main event that allows conception of children. Mock child weddings have been common folk tradition many places in Europe, and were often celebrated at Midsummer.12 Passing through kicking legs - running the gauntlet 13 Blind Man's Bluff One player is blindfolded and then disoriented by being spun around. The other players call out to the "blind man" who attempts to tag them before they dodge away.14 Playing with birds 14b Making hats with twigs The child in the blue tunic is wearing a hat woven from twigs. 15 Blowing bubbles Still a popular pastime, Bruegel shows children blowing bubbles with clay pipes and verifies soap bubbles being used as entertainment for at least 400 years16 Shell bobbin A flying spinneret made of nut shells17 Teetotum Forerunner of the roulette and dice games17b Toy animal with leash A stone dog of sorts18 Knucklebones Game of very ancient origin, played with five small objects, originally the "knucklebones" (actually the astragalus: a bone in the ankle, or hock) of a sheep, which are thrown up and caught in various ways; more commonly known as playing jacks.19 Mock baptismal Re-enacting the procession of adults carrying home a baby just baptized. The blue hood symbolises deception ("hooding the husband" meant to cuckold him, as shown in Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs).20 A hand game Possibly the morra, a hand game - similar to rock, paper, scissors - that dates back thousands of years to ancient Roman and Greek times21 Piñata A papier-mâché or other type of container that is decorated, filled with toys and or candy and then broken, usually as part of a ceremony or celebration22 Walk on stilts Walking poles equipped with steps for the feet to stand on, they can be short (like here) or long (see number 62)23 Play leapfrog Vaulting over each other's stooped backs24 Mock tournaments Competitions of various kind25 The "Pope's seat" Holding the child by gripping hands26 Hobby-horse Riding a wooden hobby horse made of a straight stick with a small horse's head27 Stirring excrement with a stick 28 Playing the flute and the drum Playing simple music with basic instruments, always popular with kids29 The simple roll hoop Children and adults around the world have played with hoops, twirling, rolling and throwing them throughout history30 Shouting into a barrel from a hole The many uses of a barrel31 The hoop with bells A variation of rolling the hoop32 Riding the barrel With barrel vaulting, another popular play33 Hat throwing Throw them through a child's open legs, or see who throws farthest34 Raisinbread man A man-shaped loaf of bread, most likely some sort of Dutch duivekater, offered during wakes or at Christmas35 The penalty of "bumbouncing" Bouncing someone's buttocks on planks36 Ball made with an inflated animal bladder Inflating a bladder to create a balloon or ball37 Buck buck A group of children had to create a "pony" and another had to leap on their backs until the weight made it crumble38 To play shop On the wooden plank below the funnel Bruegel inscribed "BRUEGEL 1560" Red pigment was made from scraping bricks and was most famous from Antwerp.39 Playing Tiddlywinks Played with small discs called "winks", a pot, and a collection of squidgers. The children use a "squidger" (a disk) to propel a wink into flight by pressing down on a wink, thereby flicking it into the air: the objective of the game is to score points by sending one's own winks into the pot39b Playing Mumblety-peg An old outdoor game played by children using pocketknives40 Building (a well) 41 Pulling hair May be a game or a fight42 Catching insects with a net 43 Playing the scourge 44 Playing marbles Ancient throwing game45 Pitch and toss The players each take a coin and take turns tossing them towards the wall: the coin the closest to the wall wins45b Twirling a hat on a stick 46 Making a procession Popular among children and adults, in diverse applications47 Playing the porter 48 Who's got the ball? Hiding the ball and guessing who has it49 Riding piggyback Riding on another's shoulders50 Singing door-to-door 51 Bonfire Lighting a fire52 Riding a broom A variation of hobby-horse, but with many players53 Pushing a wall 54 Hide-and-seek Or "hide and go seek", a game in which a number of players conceal themselves in the environment, to be found by one or more seekers55 The "devil's tail" or "crack the whip" One player, chosen as the "head" of the tail or whip, runs around in random directions with subsequent players holding on to the hand of the previous player. The entire "tail" of the whip moves in those directions but with much more force toward the end of the tail.56 Grappling A basic form of wrestling57 The "devil chained" Role play as a street game58 Run, jump on a cellar's door 59 Bowling Players attempt to score points by rolling a ball along a flat surface, either into pins or to get close to a target ball60 The token Running and handing off the baton to the next runner61 Throwing walnuts Perhaps a variation of bowling or bocce, hitting an assembled cluster of nuts62 High stilts Walking on long poles63 Pole vaulting Exercising on a horizontally fixed bar64 Balancing a stick on a finger A clownish game of balance65 Put up a show Enacting a play66 Spinning tops Using toys that can be spun on an axis, balancing on a point67 The trolleys Baskets moving on a line68 Flying a ribbon on a stick Letting a piece of cloth fly in the wind from a stick69 Whom shall I choose? A girl selects her "baby" from a group of friends under a blanket70 Urinating 71 Bocce In teams, throwing the bocce balls closest to the jack ball72 Pirouetting skirts Swirling the girls' skirts round and round73 Climbing a tree 74 Swimming A healthy recreational exercise, enjoying a full-body workout75 Diving Jumping or falling into water is always fun for children76 Floating with an inflated pig's bladder A sheep's bladder was also used, to float on top of it or to play water games77 "Dethroning the King" A game also known as "king of the hill"78 Playing with sand Popular with children across the world79 Coil tournament A fight of knights80 Rattles Noisy musical game

See also List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

References

External links

Children's Games at the KHM (in German) Bosch Bruegel Society 99 works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder Creative Bruegel laid the foundation of the Netherlands School (in Russian)