The museum's collection of works by the Bruegel family, notably Pieter the Elder (1527-69), is focused on Room 31 . Although he is often regarded as the finest Netherlandish painter of the sixteenth century, little is known of Pieter the Elder's life, but it's likely he was apprenticed in Antwerp and he certainly moved to Brussels in the early 1560s. He also made at least one long trip to Italy, but judging by his oeuvre, he was - unlike most of his "Belgian" contemporaries - decidedly unimpressed by Italian art. He preferred instead to paint in the Netherlandish tradition and his works often depict crowded Flemish scenes in which are embedded religious or mythical stories. This sympathetic portrayal of everyday life revelled in the seasons and was worked in muted browns, greys and bluey greens with red or yellow highlights. Typifying this approach, and on display here, are the Adoration of the Magi and the Census at Bethlehem - a scene that his son, Pieter (1564-1638), repeated on several occasions - two particularly absorbing works with the traditionally momentous events happening, almost incidentally, among the bustle of everyday life. The versatile Pieter also dabbled with the lurid imagery of Bosch, whose influence is seen most clearly in the Fall of the Rebel Angels , a frantic panel painting which had actually been attributed to Bosch until Bruegel's signature was discovered hidden under the frame. The Fall of Icarus is, however, his most haunting work, its mood perfectly captured by Auden in his poem "Musée des Beaux Arts":

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