The Private Life of a Masterpiece

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Census At Bethlehem (6x2)

Air date: Dec 25, 2006

Arguably the painting that invented the snowy Christmas card scene, the Census at Bethlehem is a picture that depicts the arrival of Mary and Joseph at Bethlehem. But it also a portrays Netherlands village under the grip of a cruel winter and under the hammer of a foreign army.