Oh, the Games They Played! Sixteenth-Century Game Theory

Photo of the Original Oil Painting done by Pieter Bruegel Titled "Children’s Games"

This writer had the recent pleasure of viewing the original of a well-known oil painting done by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1560. The title of the oil-on-wood panel piece is Children’s Games, and it shows 230 children at play in 83 different games. The painting is slightly more than 46 inches high by 63 inches wide. It hangs in a prominent spot at the History of Art Museum (Kunsthistorisches) in Vienna, Austria.


As with many of Bruegel’s paintings, the picture is filled by figures in action across a wide space, and it invites close examination to see what each person or group is doing. It captivates through its variety and detail, and modern-day viewers can compare and contrast the activities of children at play in the sixteenth century to games played outdoors by children today. Readers may recall past articles in which The Museum of Teaching and Learning has advocated the practice of “Slow Art”—spending plenty of time to truly savor a work of art.


Online readers may want to enlarge the electronic image to identify some of the following activities:

• blowing bubbles
• playing dolls
• walking on stilts,
• leap frog
• pretend wedding
• “horsey”
• hobby horse
• riding piggyback,
• hide-and-seek.

A more complete list of activities may be found in the link to the Joy of Museums site.

Modern Day Hide-and-Seek

Modern Day Playing Dolls

This painting has prompted many descriptions and analyses over time, but one article holds particular interest for MOTAL. It is a journal piece based upon a Dutch doctoral dissertation by Amy Orrock. Her analysis places this painting in the context of sixteenth-century Flemish education when schools were interested in promoting the development of the whole child. Play was emphasized as an important part of growth and development. This sort of pedagogical thinking is usually thought of as being part of humanistic psychology that originally came from ancient Greece and Rome.


Humanism certainly infused the Renaissance, and it has been revived at key times in history, such as the early 1900s. An influential figure who defined and spread its appeal during that era was Abraham Maslow, well-known for the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It describes key areas of need in order for individuals to be fulfilled and reach self-actualization. Humanistic thought also characterizes many approaches to education in the 21st century. It contends that humans are inherently good—not evil—and that problems can be solved through people working together to find solutions, as opposed to depending upon divine or supernatural interventions.


Incidentally, the people who populate the broad square depicted in Children’s Games are not all children. Six adults are present, but they are there to oversee and support the children at play, not to scold or disapprove. History has witnessed some attempts to cast this famous painting as an allegory of good and evil, but it appears that such analyses do not play out.


In the end, MOTAL is happy to offer viewers an opportunity to enjoy a masterful, engaging rendering of children at play. The main message that is that various types of play are good for children. It is through play that they can advance in motor skills and develop useful cognitive, social, and emotional abilities that will serve them as they grow and mature.


Submitted by Greta Nagel
MOTAL President and CEO


Resources:
(These are live links.)
Homo ludens: Pieter Bruegel's Children's Games and the Humanist Educators - Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art


Children and Youth in History | Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s "Children's Games" [Painting]


"Children's Games" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder – Joy of Museums Virtual Tours


What Is Humanistic Learning Theory in Education?


Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs | Simply Psychology