Hunters in the Snow, which was also known as The Return of the Hunters was created by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Bruegel was a master good at genre paintings. He specialized in painting vivid and lively rituals of village life—including agriculture, hunts, festivals and so on, revealing both physical and social aspects of 16th century life with integrity.

Hunters in the Snow is the most famous one of Pieter’s several winter landscapes depicting the severity of winters during the Little Ice Age. The overall visual impression this painting leaves on viewers is a calm, cold, overcast day in winter. It’s a profound landscape describing people’s activity. It shows a wintry scene in which three hunters with hunting tools in their hands are returning home accompanied by their dogs without big harvest. The hunters seems to be tired and weary, and the dogs appear downtrodden and miserable. Nearby, there are some adults and a child setting fire to prepare food. On the icy pond, some people are fishing and skating. The earth is covered by white snow and trees are bare of leaves, creating an atmosphere of solemn and quite. Bruegel used muted whites and grays to depict an ideal country life in winter, expressing his love.

The Hunters in the Snow by Bruegel is believed to influence Tobias Wolff’s classic short story with the same title and featured in In the Garden of the North American Martyrs.