The Census at Bethlehem is an oil-on-panel by the Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted in 1566. It is signed and measures about 1155 × 1645 mm. It is currently held and exhibited at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels, which acquired it in 1902. It is one of the first paintings in Western art to feature a significant snow landscape and was painted in the aftermath of the winter of 1565, which was one of the harshest winters on record.
The Census at Bethlehem
Detail of Mary and Joseph
Detail of ruined castle at painting's top right
Pieter Bruegel the Elder was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes ; he was a pioneer in presenting both types of subject as large paintings.
The Painter and The Connoisseur, c. 1565, possibly Bruegel's self-portrait
Engraving designed by Bruegel and published by Hieronymus Cock, The Seven Deadly Sins or the Seven Vices – Anger, 1558
The Blind Leading the Blind, 1568
The Big Fish Eat the Little Fish, Bruegel's drawing for a print, 1556