- Bruegel. The Hand of the Master' was the first ever exhibition to unite paintings, drawings and prints by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It was the result of six years of research that also involved input from numerous experts in the fields of art history, conservation and science.The curatorial team - Elke Oberthaler, Sabine Pe´not, Manfred Sellink and Ron Spronk, with Alice Hoppe-Harnoncourt - invited these experts to present findings from their own research at the 2018 symposium 'The Hand of the Master: Materials and Techniques of Pieter Bruegel the Elder'. All the papers presented at the symposium are collected in this publication, 'Essays in Context', a special 450th anniversary edition in commemoration of the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1569. 0The focus is on insights derived from the artworks themselves. The results of the investigations into Bruegel's drawings and paintings using modern imaging techniques, the natural sciences and dendrochronology, as well as the observations by the paintings' restorers, provide brand-new information. The analysis of Bruegel's compositions and what he actually depicted (objects, clothes, gestures) is seen within the wider context of the life and times of the artist and his patrons. Rounded up by the latest research into Bruegel's life, the historical art market and previous attitudes to his oeuvre, the entire volume is intended to offer new directions for future study.Five essays by the curators, initially only available in the e-book version of the 2018 exhibition catalogue, are included too. Contents : Introduction : Bruegel between 2019 and 2069 / Stefan Weppelmann - Pieter Bruegel : A preliminary reconstruction of his network / Jan Van der Stock - 'Die 4. Jahrs Zeiten, fecit der alte Brueghel.' The changing story of Bruegel's Cycle of the Seasons in the Imperial Collection / Alice Hoppe-Harnoncourt - Functions of drawings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder / Joris Van Grie -- ken - Four drawings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder : Art-technical research / Lieve Watteeuw, Marina van Bos, Maarten Bassens, Joris Van Grieken, Christina Currie, Bruno Vandermeulen, Hendrik Hameeuw and Maximiliaan Martens - The Parable of the Blind and The Misanthrope : glue-tempera technique in Bruegel's canvases in Capodimonte / Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Grisaille paintings / Aviva Burnstock and Karen Serres - Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Flemish book illumination / Till-Holger Borchert - Traces of lost Pieter Bruegel paintings revealed through derivative paintings, phantom copies and dealer practices / Hans J. van Miegroet - Observations on the genesis of Pieter Bruegel and Elder's The Conversion of Saul and the examination of two copies / Christina Currie and Dominique Allart - Pieter Bruegel's panel Two Monkeys : technological research and the making of a reconstruction / Babette Hartwieg, Bertram Lorenz and Stephan Kemperdick - Restoration of Pieter Bruegel's The Triumph of Death at the Prado Museum / Jose de la Fuente, Maria Antonia Lopez de Asiain and Ignacio Gonzalez Panicello - '...das sehr fleiBig Stuck von brueghel...' Bruegel's panel The suicide of Saul : cleaning and restoration treatment, technique / Elke Oberthaler, Geert Van der Snickt, Stijn Legrand and Koen Janssens.- Dendroarchaelogy of the panels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna / Pascale Fraiture - Bruegel's panel paintings in Vienna : some remarks on their research, construction and condition / Ingrid Hopfner and Georg Prast - Survey of the Bruegel paintings of the Kunsthistorisches Museum from a technological point of view / Sabine Stanek, Vaclav Pitthard, Katharina Uhlir, Martina Griesser and Elke Oberthaler - Textile worlds in Bruegel's paintings. A contribution to the history of the sixteenth-century costume / Katja Schmitz-von Ledebur - Between Brussels and Antwerp : new perspectives on the Cycle of the Seasons / Tine L Meganck -Pieter Bruegel and realia : context and reception of his paintings / Claudia Goldstein - No one to show the way--not in life, not in death : Bruegel's attitude towards the world. The Birdnester--The conversion of Saul--The Triumph of Death / Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat - Essays from the Vienna exhibition e-book (2018) - Leading the eye and staging the composition. Some remarks on Pieter Bruegel the Elder's compositional techniques / Manfred Sellink - The rediscovery of Pieter Bruegelthe Elder. The pioneers of Bruegel scholarship in Belgium and Vienna / Sabine Penot - Antwerp--Brussels--Prague--Vienna. On the tracks of the Vienna Bruegels / Alice Hoppe-Harnoncourt - On Pieter Bruegel's creative process / Ron Spronk - Materials and techniques. Observations on Pieter Bruegel's working methods as seen in the Vienna paintings / Elke Oberthaler.