The subjects most frequently treated by European painters in Bruegel's day and age were taken from the spheres of religion and classical antiquity. These included scenes from biblical history along with the heroes and gods of the Greeks and Romans, and portraits of high-ranking personages. The buildings to be seen in these pictures were commonly palaces and town or city halls - magnificent edifices, in other words, not crofts and thatched houses, not such dwellings as would call to mind the arduous life in the country. It was only in the Netherlands that things differed in this respect. Many artists in this country incorporated their everyday milieu into their pictures, painting not only rich and important men but also nameless people - the peasants, the agricultural workers, their dwellings, their villages.

In his day, Bruegel was the most important of these painters displaying a pronounced realistic touch. It is true that he included a biblical scene in his painting of The Census at Bethlehem; he depicted it so completely integrated into the pastoral life, however, that it can scarcely be made out at first glance.

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	The Fight between Carnival and Lent 1559 Oil on panel, 118 x 165 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna	1210*900 True Color 205 Kb
	The Fight between Carnival and Lent (detail) 1559 Oil on panel, width 38 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna	850*1042 True Color 190 Kb
	The Fight between Carnival and Lent (detail) 1559 Oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna	1105*800 True Color 136 Kb
	The Fight between Carnival and Lent (detail) 1559 Oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna	900*1105 True Color 164 Kb
	The Fight between Carnival and Lent (detail) 1559 Oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna	1134*950 True Color 153 Kb
	The Fight between Carnival and Lent (detail) 1559 Oil on panel Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna	900*1154 True Color 182 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem 1566 Oil on oak, 116 x 164 cm Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	1147*820 True Color 195 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	800*1031 True Color 207 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	1116*950 True Color 166 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak, width of detail 54 cm Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	1323*770 True Color 171 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak, width of detail 49 cm Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	900*1088 True Color 183 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	1168*850 True Color 189 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak, width of detail 54 cm Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	1312*770 True Color 191 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak, width of detail 49 cm Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	850*1036 True Color 205 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	850*1116 True Color 192 Kb
	The Census at Bethlehem (detail) 1566 Oil on oak, width of detail 54 cm Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels	1600*769 True Color 162 Kb