"Volkszählung" by Hafer

[Christoph]

Thanks alot.

Your are right Mike, this is one of the lesser know Hafer sets and I have never seen it before painted. I ordered this set together with the Hugenottes and the well know "Bohnenfest" set at the beginning of the year. Sadly Mr. Hafer past away some month later. It is very nice to see, that his son carry on.

Thanks for the books Willie. I´m painting figures from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 17th century and often base my colours on contemorary paintings. It is very interesting to see how the colours change from Burgundy to the colourful Landsknechts going on to the thirty years war when a lot of brown and grey cloth was used. It was very interesting to look at Brueghels painting and see what colours he was using.

Christoph

   

[willie]

Hi Christoph. First of all a great job on the figures    Speaking about color and clothing in that period If you could get this book from your library Natural Dyes by Judy Hardman its a book how to use natural Dyes from your Garden and how to use them on wool, cotton, slik  and I think flax . I checked it out my self and learned a lot.  I have talked about this before about color  in this form  Remember most  of the time you are dealing with pre industrial Dyes and methods used. Also another book  is The Chronicle of Western Costume . I use this a lot when painting  Willie

[Mike G]

These are great Christoph. I never noticed this set in Hafer’s catalogue. It’s a very interesting subject. 

[Isabelle]

Superb ! I like these  subjects and the painting of these flat 

[Christoph]

Thanks alot.
I tried to Keep as close as possible to the original painting when I chose the colours.
I like Brueghel´s paintings because he shows so much of the 16th century everyday live.
I´m thinking of building a Diorama with these figures but I´m still not sure how to do it. The black and White idea is very interesting, I will think about it.
Christoph 

[marko]

These are wonderful! 


I do enjoy the wealth of figures depicting everyday life which the flats world abounds with.


mark 

[errant49]

Very nice Christophe
It makes me want to paint this set which I have somewhere
Eric

[Hannibal]

superb interpretation !!
Can it not be integrated in a diorama of the ainting in black & white on 2/3 plans to create the depth? having other characters in black & white?

[Christoph]

Hello,
here are some pictures of the set "Die Volkszählung" (the census of population) after a painting by Brueghel edited by Hafer.
It shows Mary and Joseph looking for a bed for the night in Bethlehem while the town is packed with People (the rest of the story should be known).

Sadly the set of flats includes not more of the people shown in the orignial painting.

Here you can see the original painting:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Volksz%C3%A4hlung_zu_Bethlehem
 
Christoph