Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: Explain the Political backdrop of this artwork, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.

Friedrich was an outspoken supporter of German liberal and nationalist feeling. The old German princely states were disrupted and saw their authority compromised in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars of 1803–1815. German nationalists advocated for the Unification of Germany and the abolition of the conservative German nobility and leadership of the German Confederation. One of the ways German liberals identified themselves and showed their support was a fashion trend: Altdeutsche ("Old German") outfits, a restoration of a heroic unified German past of the 1500s–1600s and the age of Martin Luther.  Nationalists such as Friedrich thus identified themselves with restoring a lost national greatness. The art historian Norbert Wolf, following Koerner and others, has stated that the figure in Wanderer above the Sea of Fog wears just such an Altdeutsches outfit, a political statement in the era when the painting was created. Other scholars have described the figure's clothing as a Jäger infantry uniform. A matter less clear is how Friedrich's Lutheranism affected Wanderer, if at all. Friedrich's religious side is seen in other paintings of his, such as the 1810 painting Cross in the Mountains, which fit a humble sort of Christianity that found beauty in nature. This corresponds with Luther's writing that all the great cathedrals and pompous buildings of the Catholic Church of his era could be torn down with little loss. To Friedrich's interpretation of Lutheranism, true religion was found in nature, simplicity, and individual people, all elements of Wanderer.  Another potential link was how Friedrich met and befriended the scientist and fellow painter Carl Gustav Carus in 1817 just before he would have been preparing and painting Wanderer. Art historian Joseph Koerner notes that Carus wrote on a particular verse in the Luther Bible: Luther translated the account of God's creation of Earth in the Book of Genesis 2:6 as Aber ein Nebel ging auf von der Erde und feuchtete alles Land (English: A fog arose from the Earth and moistened the entire land).  Carus argued the fog was God's assistant in the Creation, turning barren mountains into verdant forests. Koerner hypothesizes that Carus and Friedrich could have discussed the matter in the course of their friendship. He sees that Wanderer could well be depicting a Creation-esque scene: the figure views a land of unknown possibility, hidden in the mist, emerging from the heart as an emanation from the "I".

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: How does Wanderer above the Sea of Fog explain its Political backdrop?

Friedrich was an outspoken supporter of German liberal and nationalist feeling. The old German princely states were disrupted and saw their authority compromised in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars of 1803–1815. German nationalists advocated for the Unification of Germany and the abolition of the conservative German nobility and leadership of the German Confederation. One of the ways German liberals identified themselves and showed their support was a fashion trend: Altdeutsche ("Old German") outfits, a restoration of a heroic unified German past of the 1500s–1600s and the age of Martin Luther.  Nationalists such as Friedrich thus identified themselves with restoring a lost national greatness. The art historian Norbert Wolf, following Koerner and others, has stated that the figure in Wanderer above the Sea of Fog wears just such an Altdeutsches outfit, a political statement in the era when the painting was created. Other scholars have described the figure's clothing as a Jäger infantry uniform. A matter less clear is how Friedrich's Lutheranism affected Wanderer, if at all. Friedrich's religious side is seen in other paintings of his, such as the 1810 painting Cross in the Mountains, which fit a humble sort of Christianity that found beauty in nature. This corresponds with Luther's writing that all the great cathedrals and pompous buildings of the Catholic Church of his era could be torn down with little loss. To Friedrich's interpretation of Lutheranism, true religion was found in nature, simplicity, and individual people, all elements of Wanderer.  Another potential link was how Friedrich met and befriended the scientist and fellow painter Carl Gustav Carus in 1817 just before he would have been preparing and painting Wanderer. Art historian Joseph Koerner notes that Carus wrote on a particular verse in the Luther Bible: Luther translated the account of God's creation of Earth in the Book of Genesis 2:6 as Aber ein Nebel ging auf von der Erde und feuchtete alles Land (English: A fog arose from the Earth and moistened the entire land).  Carus argued the fog was God's assistant in the Creation, turning barren mountains into verdant forests. Koerner hypothesizes that Carus and Friedrich could have discussed the matter in the course of their friendship. He sees that Wanderer could well be depicting a Creation-esque scene: the figure views a land of unknown possibility, hidden in the mist, emerging from the heart as an emanation from the "I".

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: In Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, how is the Political backdrop discussed?

Friedrich was an outspoken supporter of German liberal and nationalist feeling. The old German princely states were disrupted and saw their authority compromised in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars of 1803–1815. German nationalists advocated for the Unification of Germany and the abolition of the conservative German nobility and leadership of the German Confederation. One of the ways German liberals identified themselves and showed their support was a fashion trend: Altdeutsche ("Old German") outfits, a restoration of a heroic unified German past of the 1500s–1600s and the age of Martin Luther.  Nationalists such as Friedrich thus identified themselves with restoring a lost national greatness. The art historian Norbert Wolf, following Koerner and others, has stated that the figure in Wanderer above the Sea of Fog wears just such an Altdeutsches outfit, a political statement in the era when the painting was created. Other scholars have described the figure's clothing as a Jäger infantry uniform. A matter less clear is how Friedrich's Lutheranism affected Wanderer, if at all. Friedrich's religious side is seen in other paintings of his, such as the 1810 painting Cross in the Mountains, which fit a humble sort of Christianity that found beauty in nature. This corresponds with Luther's writing that all the great cathedrals and pompous buildings of the Catholic Church of his era could be torn down with little loss. To Friedrich's interpretation of Lutheranism, true religion was found in nature, simplicity, and individual people, all elements of Wanderer.  Another potential link was how Friedrich met and befriended the scientist and fellow painter Carl Gustav Carus in 1817 just before he would have been preparing and painting Wanderer. Art historian Joseph Koerner notes that Carus wrote on a particular verse in the Luther Bible: Luther translated the account of God's creation of Earth in the Book of Genesis 2:6 as Aber ein Nebel ging auf von der Erde und feuchtete alles Land (English: A fog arose from the Earth and moistened the entire land).  Carus argued the fog was God's assistant in the Creation, turning barren mountains into verdant forests. Koerner hypothesizes that Carus and Friedrich could have discussed the matter in the course of their friendship. He sees that Wanderer could well be depicting a Creation-esque scene: the figure views a land of unknown possibility, hidden in the mist, emerging from the heart as an emanation from the "I".

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: Focus on Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and explain the Mountain climbing.

Robert Macfarlane argues the painting had significant influence on how mountain climbing has been viewed in the Western world since the Romantic era, calling it the "archetypical image of the mountain-climbing visionary". He admires its power in representing the concept that standing on mountain tops is something to be admired, an idea which barely existed in earlier centuries.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: Explain the Mountain climbing of this artwork, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.

Robert Macfarlane argues the painting had significant influence on how mountain climbing has been viewed in the Western world since the Romantic era, calling it the "archetypical image of the mountain-climbing visionary". He admires its power in representing the concept that standing on mountain tops is something to be admired, an idea which barely existed in earlier centuries.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: How does Wanderer above the Sea of Fog explain its Mountain climbing?

Robert Macfarlane argues the painting had significant influence on how mountain climbing has been viewed in the Western world since the Romantic era, calling it the "archetypical image of the mountain-climbing visionary". He admires its power in representing the concept that standing on mountain tops is something to be admired, an idea which barely existed in earlier centuries.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: In Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, how is the Mountain climbing discussed?

Robert Macfarlane argues the painting had significant influence on how mountain climbing has been viewed in the Western world since the Romantic era, calling it the "archetypical image of the mountain-climbing visionary". He admires its power in representing the concept that standing on mountain tops is something to be admired, an idea which barely existed in earlier centuries.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: Focus on Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and explain the Reception.

While Friedrich was respected in German and Russian circles, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and Friedrich's work in general were not immediately regarded as masterpieces. His fame waned as he grew older; he wrote that the art judges of his day did not appreciate winter landscapes and mist enough. Friedrich's reputation improved in the early 20th century, and in particular during the 1970s. Wanderer became particularly popular: used as an inspiration for a variety of works since, and not merely known among art scholars. Wanderer has appeared on the cover of numerous books, T-shirts, CDs, coffee mugs, and so on, becoming a staple of "popular art" as well as high culture.  Werner Hofmann hypothesizes that the subject looking upon a canvas of open possibility, ready to make a choice and find what awaits him, appeals to modern viewers.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: Explain the Reception of this artwork, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.

While Friedrich was respected in German and Russian circles, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and Friedrich's work in general were not immediately regarded as masterpieces. His fame waned as he grew older; he wrote that the art judges of his day did not appreciate winter landscapes and mist enough. Friedrich's reputation improved in the early 20th century, and in particular during the 1970s. Wanderer became particularly popular: used as an inspiration for a variety of works since, and not merely known among art scholars. Wanderer has appeared on the cover of numerous books, T-shirts, CDs, coffee mugs, and so on, becoming a staple of "popular art" as well as high culture.  Werner Hofmann hypothesizes that the subject looking upon a canvas of open possibility, ready to make a choice and find what awaits him, appeals to modern viewers.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: How does Wanderer above the Sea of Fog explain its Reception?

While Friedrich was respected in German and Russian circles, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and Friedrich's work in general were not immediately regarded as masterpieces. His fame waned as he grew older; he wrote that the art judges of his day did not appreciate winter landscapes and mist enough. Friedrich's reputation improved in the early 20th century, and in particular during the 1970s. Wanderer became particularly popular: used as an inspiration for a variety of works since, and not merely known among art scholars. Wanderer has appeared on the cover of numerous books, T-shirts, CDs, coffee mugs, and so on, becoming a staple of "popular art" as well as high culture.  Werner Hofmann hypothesizes that the subject looking upon a canvas of open possibility, ready to make a choice and find what awaits him, appeals to modern viewers.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

Prompt: In Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, how is the Reception discussed?

While Friedrich was respected in German and Russian circles, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog and Friedrich's work in general were not immediately regarded as masterpieces. His fame waned as he grew older; he wrote that the art judges of his day did not appreciate winter landscapes and mist enough. Friedrich's reputation improved in the early 20th century, and in particular during the 1970s. Wanderer became particularly popular: used as an inspiration for a variety of works since, and not merely known among art scholars. Wanderer has appeared on the cover of numerous books, T-shirts, CDs, coffee mugs, and so on, becoming a staple of "popular art" as well as high culture.  Werner Hofmann hypothesizes that the subject looking upon a canvas of open possibility, ready to make a choice and find what awaits him, appeals to modern viewers.

Category:Paintings by Caspar David Friedrich

Category:Paintings in the Hamburger Kunsthalle


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Focus on The Blind Leading the Blind and explain the abstract.

The Blind Leading the Blind, Blind, or The Parable of the Blind (Dutch: De parabel der blinden) is a painting by the Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, completed in 1568.  Executed in distemper on linen canvas, it measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in).  It depicts the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from the Gospel of Matthew 15:14, and is in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy.The painting reflects Bruegel's mastery of observation. Each figure has a different eye affliction, including corneal leukoma, atrophy of globe and removed eyes. The men hold their heads aloft to make better use of their other senses. The diagonal composition reinforces the off-kilter motion of the six figures falling in progression. It is considered a masterwork for its accurate detail and composition. Copies include a larger version by Bruegel's son Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and the work has inspired literature such as poetry by Charles Baudelaire and William Carlos Williams, and a novel by Gert Hofmann.Bruegel painted The Blind the year before his death.  It has a bitter, sorrowful tone, which may be related to the establishment of the Council of Troubles in 1567 by the government of the Spanish Netherlands.  The council ordered mass arrests and executions to enforce Spanish rule and suppress Protestantism.  The placement of St. Anna's Church of the village of Sint-Anna-Pede has led to both pro- and anti-Catholic interpretations, though it is not clear that the painting was meant as a political statement.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Explain the abstract of this artwork, The Blind Leading the Blind.

The Blind Leading the Blind, Blind, or The Parable of the Blind (Dutch: De parabel der blinden) is a painting by the Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, completed in 1568.  Executed in distemper on linen canvas, it measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in).  It depicts the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from the Gospel of Matthew 15:14, and is in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy.The painting reflects Bruegel's mastery of observation. Each figure has a different eye affliction, including corneal leukoma, atrophy of globe and removed eyes. The men hold their heads aloft to make better use of their other senses. The diagonal composition reinforces the off-kilter motion of the six figures falling in progression. It is considered a masterwork for its accurate detail and composition. Copies include a larger version by Bruegel's son Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and the work has inspired literature such as poetry by Charles Baudelaire and William Carlos Williams, and a novel by Gert Hofmann.Bruegel painted The Blind the year before his death.  It has a bitter, sorrowful tone, which may be related to the establishment of the Council of Troubles in 1567 by the government of the Spanish Netherlands.  The council ordered mass arrests and executions to enforce Spanish rule and suppress Protestantism.  The placement of St. Anna's Church of the village of Sint-Anna-Pede has led to both pro- and anti-Catholic interpretations, though it is not clear that the painting was meant as a political statement.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: How does The Blind Leading the Blind explain its abstract?

The Blind Leading the Blind, Blind, or The Parable of the Blind (Dutch: De parabel der blinden) is a painting by the Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, completed in 1568.  Executed in distemper on linen canvas, it measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in).  It depicts the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from the Gospel of Matthew 15:14, and is in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy.The painting reflects Bruegel's mastery of observation. Each figure has a different eye affliction, including corneal leukoma, atrophy of globe and removed eyes. The men hold their heads aloft to make better use of their other senses. The diagonal composition reinforces the off-kilter motion of the six figures falling in progression. It is considered a masterwork for its accurate detail and composition. Copies include a larger version by Bruegel's son Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and the work has inspired literature such as poetry by Charles Baudelaire and William Carlos Williams, and a novel by Gert Hofmann.Bruegel painted The Blind the year before his death.  It has a bitter, sorrowful tone, which may be related to the establishment of the Council of Troubles in 1567 by the government of the Spanish Netherlands.  The council ordered mass arrests and executions to enforce Spanish rule and suppress Protestantism.  The placement of St. Anna's Church of the village of Sint-Anna-Pede has led to both pro- and anti-Catholic interpretations, though it is not clear that the painting was meant as a political statement.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: In The Blind Leading the Blind, how is the abstract discussed?

The Blind Leading the Blind, Blind, or The Parable of the Blind (Dutch: De parabel der blinden) is a painting by the Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, completed in 1568.  Executed in distemper on linen canvas, it measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in).  It depicts the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from the Gospel of Matthew 15:14, and is in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, Italy.The painting reflects Bruegel's mastery of observation. Each figure has a different eye affliction, including corneal leukoma, atrophy of globe and removed eyes. The men hold their heads aloft to make better use of their other senses. The diagonal composition reinforces the off-kilter motion of the six figures falling in progression. It is considered a masterwork for its accurate detail and composition. Copies include a larger version by Bruegel's son Pieter Brueghel the Younger, and the work has inspired literature such as poetry by Charles Baudelaire and William Carlos Williams, and a novel by Gert Hofmann.Bruegel painted The Blind the year before his death.  It has a bitter, sorrowful tone, which may be related to the establishment of the Council of Troubles in 1567 by the government of the Spanish Netherlands.  The council ordered mass arrests and executions to enforce Spanish rule and suppress Protestantism.  The placement of St. Anna's Church of the village of Sint-Anna-Pede has led to both pro- and anti-Catholic interpretations, though it is not clear that the painting was meant as a political statement.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Focus on The Blind Leading the Blind and explain the Description.

The painting depicts a procession of six blind, disfigured men. They pass along a path bordered by a river on one side and a village with a church on the other.  The leader of the group has fallen on his back into a ditch and, because they are all linked by their staffs, seems about to drag his companions down with him.  A cowherd stands in the background.Bruegel based the work on the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from Matthew 15:14, in which Christ refers to the Pharisees.  According to art critic Margaret Sullivan, Bruegel's audience was likely as familiar with classical literature as with the Bible. Erasmus had published his Adagia two years before Bruegel's painting, and it contained the quotation "Caecus caeco dux" ("the blind leader of the blind") by Roman poet Horace.  Bruegel expands the two blind men in the parable to six; they are well dressed, rather than wearing the peasant clothing that typifies his late work.  The first blind man's face is not visible; the second twists his head as he falls, perhaps to avoid landing face-first. The shinguard-clad third man, on his toes with knees bent and face to the sky, shares a staff with the second, by which he is being pulled down. The others have yet to stumble, but the same fate seems implied.The faces and bodies of the blind men, and background detail including the church, are rendered in exceptionally fine detail.  The backward-falling posture of the guide demonstrates Bruegel's mastery of foreshortening.  Bruegel's settings tend to be fictional, but that of The Blind Leading the Blind has been identified as the village of Sint-Anna-Pede, and the church as St. Anna's Church.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Explain the Description of this artwork, The Blind Leading the Blind.

The painting depicts a procession of six blind, disfigured men. They pass along a path bordered by a river on one side and a village with a church on the other.  The leader of the group has fallen on his back into a ditch and, because they are all linked by their staffs, seems about to drag his companions down with him.  A cowherd stands in the background.Bruegel based the work on the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from Matthew 15:14, in which Christ refers to the Pharisees.  According to art critic Margaret Sullivan, Bruegel's audience was likely as familiar with classical literature as with the Bible. Erasmus had published his Adagia two years before Bruegel's painting, and it contained the quotation "Caecus caeco dux" ("the blind leader of the blind") by Roman poet Horace.  Bruegel expands the two blind men in the parable to six; they are well dressed, rather than wearing the peasant clothing that typifies his late work.  The first blind man's face is not visible; the second twists his head as he falls, perhaps to avoid landing face-first. The shinguard-clad third man, on his toes with knees bent and face to the sky, shares a staff with the second, by which he is being pulled down. The others have yet to stumble, but the same fate seems implied.The faces and bodies of the blind men, and background detail including the church, are rendered in exceptionally fine detail.  The backward-falling posture of the guide demonstrates Bruegel's mastery of foreshortening.  Bruegel's settings tend to be fictional, but that of The Blind Leading the Blind has been identified as the village of Sint-Anna-Pede, and the church as St. Anna's Church.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: How does The Blind Leading the Blind explain its Description?

The painting depicts a procession of six blind, disfigured men. They pass along a path bordered by a river on one side and a village with a church on the other.  The leader of the group has fallen on his back into a ditch and, because they are all linked by their staffs, seems about to drag his companions down with him.  A cowherd stands in the background.Bruegel based the work on the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from Matthew 15:14, in which Christ refers to the Pharisees.  According to art critic Margaret Sullivan, Bruegel's audience was likely as familiar with classical literature as with the Bible. Erasmus had published his Adagia two years before Bruegel's painting, and it contained the quotation "Caecus caeco dux" ("the blind leader of the blind") by Roman poet Horace.  Bruegel expands the two blind men in the parable to six; they are well dressed, rather than wearing the peasant clothing that typifies his late work.  The first blind man's face is not visible; the second twists his head as he falls, perhaps to avoid landing face-first. The shinguard-clad third man, on his toes with knees bent and face to the sky, shares a staff with the second, by which he is being pulled down. The others have yet to stumble, but the same fate seems implied.The faces and bodies of the blind men, and background detail including the church, are rendered in exceptionally fine detail.  The backward-falling posture of the guide demonstrates Bruegel's mastery of foreshortening.  Bruegel's settings tend to be fictional, but that of The Blind Leading the Blind has been identified as the village of Sint-Anna-Pede, and the church as St. Anna's Church.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: In The Blind Leading the Blind, how is the Description discussed?

The painting depicts a procession of six blind, disfigured men. They pass along a path bordered by a river on one side and a village with a church on the other.  The leader of the group has fallen on his back into a ditch and, because they are all linked by their staffs, seems about to drag his companions down with him.  A cowherd stands in the background.Bruegel based the work on the Biblical parable of the blind leading the blind from Matthew 15:14, in which Christ refers to the Pharisees.  According to art critic Margaret Sullivan, Bruegel's audience was likely as familiar with classical literature as with the Bible. Erasmus had published his Adagia two years before Bruegel's painting, and it contained the quotation "Caecus caeco dux" ("the blind leader of the blind") by Roman poet Horace.  Bruegel expands the two blind men in the parable to six; they are well dressed, rather than wearing the peasant clothing that typifies his late work.  The first blind man's face is not visible; the second twists his head as he falls, perhaps to avoid landing face-first. The shinguard-clad third man, on his toes with knees bent and face to the sky, shares a staff with the second, by which he is being pulled down. The others have yet to stumble, but the same fate seems implied.The faces and bodies of the blind men, and background detail including the church, are rendered in exceptionally fine detail.  The backward-falling posture of the guide demonstrates Bruegel's mastery of foreshortening.  Bruegel's settings tend to be fictional, but that of The Blind Leading the Blind has been identified as the village of Sint-Anna-Pede, and the church as St. Anna's Church.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: In the context of The Blind Leading the Blind, explain the Style and the Description.

One of four surviving Bruegel paintings in distemper, the work is a tüchlein, a type of light painting that uses tempera made from pigment mixed with water-soluble glue. This medium was widely used in painting and manuscript illumination before the advent of oil paint.  It is not known from whom Bruegel learnt its use, but amongst those speculated are his mother-in-law, illuminator Mayken Verhulst; his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst; and painter and illuminator Giulio Clovio, with whom he resided in Italy and whom he helped paint miniatures in distemper. Due to the high perishability of linen cloth and the solubility of hide glue, tüchleins do not preserve well and are difficult to restore.  The Blind Leading the Blind is in good condition and has suffered no more than some erosion, such as of a herdsman and some fowl in the middle ground.  The grain of the linen canvas is visible beneath the delicate brushstrokes.  The work is signed and dated BRVEGEL.M.D.LX.VIII.  The painting measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in), the largest of 1568.The austere tone is achieved through pigments in a colour scheme of mostly greys, greens, brownish-reds, and blacks.  The diagonal movement of the bodies creates a dramatic tension in the foreground which is divided diagonally from the landscape background.  The flat country features are distinctly Flemish, unlike in most of Bruegel's landscapes, in which he introduced foreign elements such as mountain ranges even into local scenery.In contrast to earlier depictions of the blind as beneficiaries of divine gifts, Bruegel's men are stumbling and decrepit, and portrayed without sympathy.  The eyeless figure would have been interpreted as a man who had suffered punishment for wrongdoing or fighting.Bruegel painted with the empirical objectivity of the Renaissance.  In earlier paintings the blind were typically depicted with eyes closed. Here, Bruegel gives each man a different ocular affliction, all painted with a realism that allowed identification of their conditions by later experts, though there is still some diagnostic disagreement.  French anatomical pathologist Jean-Martin Charcot and anatomical artist Paul Richer published an early account, Les difformes et les malades dans l'art ("The deformed and sick in art", 1889), and French pathologist Tony-Michel Torrillhon followed with more research on Bruegel's figures in 1957.  The first man's eyes are not visible; the second has had his eyes removed, along with the eyelids: the third suffers from corneal leukoma; the fourth atrophy of the globe; the fifth is either blind with no light perception, or photophobic; and the sixth has pemphigus or bullous pemphigoid.  Charcot and Richer noted Bruegel's accuracy in portraying the blind men facing not forward but with their faces raised in the air, as they would have had to rely on their senses of smell and hearing.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Explain the Style about the Description of this artwork, The Blind Leading the Blind.

One of four surviving Bruegel paintings in distemper, the work is a tüchlein, a type of light painting that uses tempera made from pigment mixed with water-soluble glue. This medium was widely used in painting and manuscript illumination before the advent of oil paint.  It is not known from whom Bruegel learnt its use, but amongst those speculated are his mother-in-law, illuminator Mayken Verhulst; his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst; and painter and illuminator Giulio Clovio, with whom he resided in Italy and whom he helped paint miniatures in distemper. Due to the high perishability of linen cloth and the solubility of hide glue, tüchleins do not preserve well and are difficult to restore.  The Blind Leading the Blind is in good condition and has suffered no more than some erosion, such as of a herdsman and some fowl in the middle ground.  The grain of the linen canvas is visible beneath the delicate brushstrokes.  The work is signed and dated BRVEGEL.M.D.LX.VIII.  The painting measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in), the largest of 1568.The austere tone is achieved through pigments in a colour scheme of mostly greys, greens, brownish-reds, and blacks.  The diagonal movement of the bodies creates a dramatic tension in the foreground which is divided diagonally from the landscape background.  The flat country features are distinctly Flemish, unlike in most of Bruegel's landscapes, in which he introduced foreign elements such as mountain ranges even into local scenery.In contrast to earlier depictions of the blind as beneficiaries of divine gifts, Bruegel's men are stumbling and decrepit, and portrayed without sympathy.  The eyeless figure would have been interpreted as a man who had suffered punishment for wrongdoing or fighting.Bruegel painted with the empirical objectivity of the Renaissance.  In earlier paintings the blind were typically depicted with eyes closed. Here, Bruegel gives each man a different ocular affliction, all painted with a realism that allowed identification of their conditions by later experts, though there is still some diagnostic disagreement.  French anatomical pathologist Jean-Martin Charcot and anatomical artist Paul Richer published an early account, Les difformes et les malades dans l'art ("The deformed and sick in art", 1889), and French pathologist Tony-Michel Torrillhon followed with more research on Bruegel's figures in 1957.  The first man's eyes are not visible; the second has had his eyes removed, along with the eyelids: the third suffers from corneal leukoma; the fourth atrophy of the globe; the fifth is either blind with no light perception, or photophobic; and the sixth has pemphigus or bullous pemphigoid.  Charcot and Richer noted Bruegel's accuracy in portraying the blind men facing not forward but with their faces raised in the air, as they would have had to rely on their senses of smell and hearing.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: In The Blind Leading the Blind, how is the Style of the Description explained?

One of four surviving Bruegel paintings in distemper, the work is a tüchlein, a type of light painting that uses tempera made from pigment mixed with water-soluble glue. This medium was widely used in painting and manuscript illumination before the advent of oil paint.  It is not known from whom Bruegel learnt its use, but amongst those speculated are his mother-in-law, illuminator Mayken Verhulst; his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst; and painter and illuminator Giulio Clovio, with whom he resided in Italy and whom he helped paint miniatures in distemper. Due to the high perishability of linen cloth and the solubility of hide glue, tüchleins do not preserve well and are difficult to restore.  The Blind Leading the Blind is in good condition and has suffered no more than some erosion, such as of a herdsman and some fowl in the middle ground.  The grain of the linen canvas is visible beneath the delicate brushstrokes.  The work is signed and dated BRVEGEL.M.D.LX.VIII.  The painting measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in), the largest of 1568.The austere tone is achieved through pigments in a colour scheme of mostly greys, greens, brownish-reds, and blacks.  The diagonal movement of the bodies creates a dramatic tension in the foreground which is divided diagonally from the landscape background.  The flat country features are distinctly Flemish, unlike in most of Bruegel's landscapes, in which he introduced foreign elements such as mountain ranges even into local scenery.In contrast to earlier depictions of the blind as beneficiaries of divine gifts, Bruegel's men are stumbling and decrepit, and portrayed without sympathy.  The eyeless figure would have been interpreted as a man who had suffered punishment for wrongdoing or fighting.Bruegel painted with the empirical objectivity of the Renaissance.  In earlier paintings the blind were typically depicted with eyes closed. Here, Bruegel gives each man a different ocular affliction, all painted with a realism that allowed identification of their conditions by later experts, though there is still some diagnostic disagreement.  French anatomical pathologist Jean-Martin Charcot and anatomical artist Paul Richer published an early account, Les difformes et les malades dans l'art ("The deformed and sick in art", 1889), and French pathologist Tony-Michel Torrillhon followed with more research on Bruegel's figures in 1957.  The first man's eyes are not visible; the second has had his eyes removed, along with the eyelids: the third suffers from corneal leukoma; the fourth atrophy of the globe; the fifth is either blind with no light perception, or photophobic; and the sixth has pemphigus or bullous pemphigoid.  Charcot and Richer noted Bruegel's accuracy in portraying the blind men facing not forward but with their faces raised in the air, as they would have had to rely on their senses of smell and hearing.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Style in The Blind Leading the Blind's Description.

One of four surviving Bruegel paintings in distemper, the work is a tüchlein, a type of light painting that uses tempera made from pigment mixed with water-soluble glue. This medium was widely used in painting and manuscript illumination before the advent of oil paint.  It is not known from whom Bruegel learnt its use, but amongst those speculated are his mother-in-law, illuminator Mayken Verhulst; his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst; and painter and illuminator Giulio Clovio, with whom he resided in Italy and whom he helped paint miniatures in distemper. Due to the high perishability of linen cloth and the solubility of hide glue, tüchleins do not preserve well and are difficult to restore.  The Blind Leading the Blind is in good condition and has suffered no more than some erosion, such as of a herdsman and some fowl in the middle ground.  The grain of the linen canvas is visible beneath the delicate brushstrokes.  The work is signed and dated BRVEGEL.M.D.LX.VIII.  The painting measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in), the largest of 1568.The austere tone is achieved through pigments in a colour scheme of mostly greys, greens, brownish-reds, and blacks.  The diagonal movement of the bodies creates a dramatic tension in the foreground which is divided diagonally from the landscape background.  The flat country features are distinctly Flemish, unlike in most of Bruegel's landscapes, in which he introduced foreign elements such as mountain ranges even into local scenery.In contrast to earlier depictions of the blind as beneficiaries of divine gifts, Bruegel's men are stumbling and decrepit, and portrayed without sympathy.  The eyeless figure would have been interpreted as a man who had suffered punishment for wrongdoing or fighting.Bruegel painted with the empirical objectivity of the Renaissance.  In earlier paintings the blind were typically depicted with eyes closed. Here, Bruegel gives each man a different ocular affliction, all painted with a realism that allowed identification of their conditions by later experts, though there is still some diagnostic disagreement.  French anatomical pathologist Jean-Martin Charcot and anatomical artist Paul Richer published an early account, Les difformes et les malades dans l'art ("The deformed and sick in art", 1889), and French pathologist Tony-Michel Torrillhon followed with more research on Bruegel's figures in 1957.  The first man's eyes are not visible; the second has had his eyes removed, along with the eyelids: the third suffers from corneal leukoma; the fourth atrophy of the globe; the fifth is either blind with no light perception, or photophobic; and the sixth has pemphigus or bullous pemphigoid.  Charcot and Richer noted Bruegel's accuracy in portraying the blind men facing not forward but with their faces raised in the air, as they would have had to rely on their senses of smell and hearing.

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Focus on The Blind Leading the Blind and explain the Background.

Sixteenth-century Europe was undergoing many societal changes: the Protestant Reformation and its rejection of public religious imagery; Renaissance humanism and its emphasis on empiricism at the expense of religious faith; and the growth of the middle class amidst the rise of mercantilism.  It was a time of rapid advances in learning and knowledge, and a move towards the empirical sciences—the age of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus and of Gutenberg's printing presses.  The cartography of Ortelius influenced the painting of landscapes, and the advances Vesalius brought to the study of anatomy via the direct observation of dissected bodies, motivated artists to pay greater attention to the accuracy of the anatomy in their works.Art was now traded in open markets; artists sought to distinguish themselves with subjects different from traditional noble, mythological, and Biblical ones, and developed new, realistic techniques based on empirical observation.  Classical literature provided precedents for dealing with "low" subjects in art. Genre art and its depiction of ordinary people and everyday life emerged against this background.Pieter Bruegel the Elder began his career illustrating landscapes and fantastic scenes in a dense style that earned him a reputation as artistic heir to Hieronymus Bosch.  He soon came to follow the example of another master, Pieter Aertsen, who had made a name for himself in the 1550s depicting everyday scenes in a highly realistic style, such as the detailed array of meat products that dominate his large Butcher's Stall of 1551. Bruegel's subjects became more quotidian and his style observational.  He achieved fame for detailed, accurate and realistic portrayals of peasants, with whom his paintings were popular.  He painted on linen canvas and oak panel, and avoided scenes of magnificence and portraits of nobility or royalty.  The peasants Bruegel at first depicted were featureless and undifferentiated; as his work matured, their physiognomy became markedly more detailed and expressive.In 1563, Bruegel married Mayken, the daughter of his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst, and moved to Brussels, the seat of government in the Spanish Netherlands (1556–1714). In 1567 the governor of the Netherlands, the Duke of Alba, established the Council of Troubles (popularly called the "Blood Council") to suppress non-Catholic religions and enforce Spanish rule, leading to mass arrests and executions.   Whether Bruegel had Calvinist sympathies or intended a political message in The Blind is not clear, but the evidence indicates he likely held views critical of the Catholic Church.  A bitter, sorrowful tone characterizes his last works, such as The Blind and The Magpie on the Gallows.In ancient Greece the blind were depicted as having received gifts from the gods, and blind singers were held in high regard.  In mediaeval Europe, the blind were depicted as the subjects of miracles, such as Bartimaeus in the healing the blind near Jericho in Mark 10:46–52.  Following the Reformation, painted depictions of saints and miracles fell out of favour in Protestant areas.  In Catholic thought, charitable works of mercy, such as giving alms to the blind and poor, were good works which, together with faith, helped the salvation of the doer. However, the Protestant doctrine of sola fide rejected the efficacy of works in achieving salvation, prescribing that it depended on faith alone (and the complication of God's predestined will for each individual).  The status of charity for the poor and infirm diminished, and beggars saw their circumstances deteriorate.  In popular literature of the time, the blind were depicted as rogues or targets of pranks.  The parable of the blind leading the blind also appears as one of the illustrated proverbs in Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs (1559).

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Explain the Background of this artwork, The Blind Leading the Blind.

Sixteenth-century Europe was undergoing many societal changes: the Protestant Reformation and its rejection of public religious imagery; Renaissance humanism and its emphasis on empiricism at the expense of religious faith; and the growth of the middle class amidst the rise of mercantilism.  It was a time of rapid advances in learning and knowledge, and a move towards the empirical sciences—the age of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus and of Gutenberg's printing presses.  The cartography of Ortelius influenced the painting of landscapes, and the advances Vesalius brought to the study of anatomy via the direct observation of dissected bodies, motivated artists to pay greater attention to the accuracy of the anatomy in their works.Art was now traded in open markets; artists sought to distinguish themselves with subjects different from traditional noble, mythological, and Biblical ones, and developed new, realistic techniques based on empirical observation.  Classical literature provided precedents for dealing with "low" subjects in art. Genre art and its depiction of ordinary people and everyday life emerged against this background.Pieter Bruegel the Elder began his career illustrating landscapes and fantastic scenes in a dense style that earned him a reputation as artistic heir to Hieronymus Bosch.  He soon came to follow the example of another master, Pieter Aertsen, who had made a name for himself in the 1550s depicting everyday scenes in a highly realistic style, such as the detailed array of meat products that dominate his large Butcher's Stall of 1551. Bruegel's subjects became more quotidian and his style observational.  He achieved fame for detailed, accurate and realistic portrayals of peasants, with whom his paintings were popular.  He painted on linen canvas and oak panel, and avoided scenes of magnificence and portraits of nobility or royalty.  The peasants Bruegel at first depicted were featureless and undifferentiated; as his work matured, their physiognomy became markedly more detailed and expressive.In 1563, Bruegel married Mayken, the daughter of his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst, and moved to Brussels, the seat of government in the Spanish Netherlands (1556–1714). In 1567 the governor of the Netherlands, the Duke of Alba, established the Council of Troubles (popularly called the "Blood Council") to suppress non-Catholic religions and enforce Spanish rule, leading to mass arrests and executions.   Whether Bruegel had Calvinist sympathies or intended a political message in The Blind is not clear, but the evidence indicates he likely held views critical of the Catholic Church.  A bitter, sorrowful tone characterizes his last works, such as The Blind and The Magpie on the Gallows.In ancient Greece the blind were depicted as having received gifts from the gods, and blind singers were held in high regard.  In mediaeval Europe, the blind were depicted as the subjects of miracles, such as Bartimaeus in the healing the blind near Jericho in Mark 10:46–52.  Following the Reformation, painted depictions of saints and miracles fell out of favour in Protestant areas.  In Catholic thought, charitable works of mercy, such as giving alms to the blind and poor, were good works which, together with faith, helped the salvation of the doer. However, the Protestant doctrine of sola fide rejected the efficacy of works in achieving salvation, prescribing that it depended on faith alone (and the complication of God's predestined will for each individual).  The status of charity for the poor and infirm diminished, and beggars saw their circumstances deteriorate.  In popular literature of the time, the blind were depicted as rogues or targets of pranks.  The parable of the blind leading the blind also appears as one of the illustrated proverbs in Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs (1559).

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: How does The Blind Leading the Blind explain its Background?

Sixteenth-century Europe was undergoing many societal changes: the Protestant Reformation and its rejection of public religious imagery; Renaissance humanism and its emphasis on empiricism at the expense of religious faith; and the growth of the middle class amidst the rise of mercantilism.  It was a time of rapid advances in learning and knowledge, and a move towards the empirical sciences—the age of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus and of Gutenberg's printing presses.  The cartography of Ortelius influenced the painting of landscapes, and the advances Vesalius brought to the study of anatomy via the direct observation of dissected bodies, motivated artists to pay greater attention to the accuracy of the anatomy in their works.Art was now traded in open markets; artists sought to distinguish themselves with subjects different from traditional noble, mythological, and Biblical ones, and developed new, realistic techniques based on empirical observation.  Classical literature provided precedents for dealing with "low" subjects in art. Genre art and its depiction of ordinary people and everyday life emerged against this background.Pieter Bruegel the Elder began his career illustrating landscapes and fantastic scenes in a dense style that earned him a reputation as artistic heir to Hieronymus Bosch.  He soon came to follow the example of another master, Pieter Aertsen, who had made a name for himself in the 1550s depicting everyday scenes in a highly realistic style, such as the detailed array of meat products that dominate his large Butcher's Stall of 1551. Bruegel's subjects became more quotidian and his style observational.  He achieved fame for detailed, accurate and realistic portrayals of peasants, with whom his paintings were popular.  He painted on linen canvas and oak panel, and avoided scenes of magnificence and portraits of nobility or royalty.  The peasants Bruegel at first depicted were featureless and undifferentiated; as his work matured, their physiognomy became markedly more detailed and expressive.In 1563, Bruegel married Mayken, the daughter of his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst, and moved to Brussels, the seat of government in the Spanish Netherlands (1556–1714). In 1567 the governor of the Netherlands, the Duke of Alba, established the Council of Troubles (popularly called the "Blood Council") to suppress non-Catholic religions and enforce Spanish rule, leading to mass arrests and executions.   Whether Bruegel had Calvinist sympathies or intended a political message in The Blind is not clear, but the evidence indicates he likely held views critical of the Catholic Church.  A bitter, sorrowful tone characterizes his last works, such as The Blind and The Magpie on the Gallows.In ancient Greece the blind were depicted as having received gifts from the gods, and blind singers were held in high regard.  In mediaeval Europe, the blind were depicted as the subjects of miracles, such as Bartimaeus in the healing the blind near Jericho in Mark 10:46–52.  Following the Reformation, painted depictions of saints and miracles fell out of favour in Protestant areas.  In Catholic thought, charitable works of mercy, such as giving alms to the blind and poor, were good works which, together with faith, helped the salvation of the doer. However, the Protestant doctrine of sola fide rejected the efficacy of works in achieving salvation, prescribing that it depended on faith alone (and the complication of God's predestined will for each individual).  The status of charity for the poor and infirm diminished, and beggars saw their circumstances deteriorate.  In popular literature of the time, the blind were depicted as rogues or targets of pranks.  The parable of the blind leading the blind also appears as one of the illustrated proverbs in Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs (1559).

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: In The Blind Leading the Blind, how is the Background discussed?

Sixteenth-century Europe was undergoing many societal changes: the Protestant Reformation and its rejection of public religious imagery; Renaissance humanism and its emphasis on empiricism at the expense of religious faith; and the growth of the middle class amidst the rise of mercantilism.  It was a time of rapid advances in learning and knowledge, and a move towards the empirical sciences—the age of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus and of Gutenberg's printing presses.  The cartography of Ortelius influenced the painting of landscapes, and the advances Vesalius brought to the study of anatomy via the direct observation of dissected bodies, motivated artists to pay greater attention to the accuracy of the anatomy in their works.Art was now traded in open markets; artists sought to distinguish themselves with subjects different from traditional noble, mythological, and Biblical ones, and developed new, realistic techniques based on empirical observation.  Classical literature provided precedents for dealing with "low" subjects in art. Genre art and its depiction of ordinary people and everyday life emerged against this background.Pieter Bruegel the Elder began his career illustrating landscapes and fantastic scenes in a dense style that earned him a reputation as artistic heir to Hieronymus Bosch.  He soon came to follow the example of another master, Pieter Aertsen, who had made a name for himself in the 1550s depicting everyday scenes in a highly realistic style, such as the detailed array of meat products that dominate his large Butcher's Stall of 1551. Bruegel's subjects became more quotidian and his style observational.  He achieved fame for detailed, accurate and realistic portrayals of peasants, with whom his paintings were popular.  He painted on linen canvas and oak panel, and avoided scenes of magnificence and portraits of nobility or royalty.  The peasants Bruegel at first depicted were featureless and undifferentiated; as his work matured, their physiognomy became markedly more detailed and expressive.In 1563, Bruegel married Mayken, the daughter of his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst, and moved to Brussels, the seat of government in the Spanish Netherlands (1556–1714). In 1567 the governor of the Netherlands, the Duke of Alba, established the Council of Troubles (popularly called the "Blood Council") to suppress non-Catholic religions and enforce Spanish rule, leading to mass arrests and executions.   Whether Bruegel had Calvinist sympathies or intended a political message in The Blind is not clear, but the evidence indicates he likely held views critical of the Catholic Church.  A bitter, sorrowful tone characterizes his last works, such as The Blind and The Magpie on the Gallows.In ancient Greece the blind were depicted as having received gifts from the gods, and blind singers were held in high regard.  In mediaeval Europe, the blind were depicted as the subjects of miracles, such as Bartimaeus in the healing the blind near Jericho in Mark 10:46–52.  Following the Reformation, painted depictions of saints and miracles fell out of favour in Protestant areas.  In Catholic thought, charitable works of mercy, such as giving alms to the blind and poor, were good works which, together with faith, helped the salvation of the doer. However, the Protestant doctrine of sola fide rejected the efficacy of works in achieving salvation, prescribing that it depended on faith alone (and the complication of God's predestined will for each individual).  The status of charity for the poor and infirm diminished, and beggars saw their circumstances deteriorate.  In popular literature of the time, the blind were depicted as rogues or targets of pranks.  The parable of the blind leading the blind also appears as one of the illustrated proverbs in Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs (1559).

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Focus on The Blind Leading the Blind and explain the Analysis.

Charles Bouleau wrote of the tension in Bruegel's compositional rhythms.  The picture is divided into nine equal parts divided by a set of parallel oblique lines.  These are divided by another network of lines at constant angles to the first.  The composition invites the reader to follow the action rather than dwell on the individual figures.  The blind men resemble each other in dress and facial features, and they appear as if they succeed one another in a single movement culminating in a fall, beginning on the left with "rambling, then hesitation, alarm, stumbling, and finally falling".  The succession of heads follows a curve, and the further the succession, the greater the space between heads, suggesting increasing speed.  The steep roofs of the background houses contribute to the composition's feeling of motion.Art historian Gustav Glück noted incongruities in that the beggars are well-dressed and carry staves and full purses.  Academics Kenneth C. Lindsay and Bernard Huppé suggest Bruegel may have implied that the blind men represent false priests who ignored Christ's admonitions not to carry gold, purses, or staves; the leader carries a hurdy-gurdy, a musical instrument associated with beggars in Bruegel's time; this perhaps implies a false minstrel, one who sings praises not for God.The church in the background, identified as St. Anna's Church at Dilbeek in modern Belgium, has sparked much commentary.  One view holds that the church is evidence of the painting's moralistic intent—that while the first two blind men stumble and are beyond redemption, the other four are behind the church and thus may be saved.  Another interpretation has it that the church, with a withered tree placed before it, is an anti-Catholic symbol, and that those who follow it will fall following a blind leader as do the men in the ditch.  Others deny any symbolism in the church, noting that churches frequently appear in Bruegel's village scenes as they were a common part of the village landscape.  Medical researcher Zeynel A. Karcioglu suggests the church represents indifference to the plight of the handicapped.In contrast to the posed, static figures typical of paintings of the period, Bruegel suggests the trajectory of time and space through the accelerated movement of the figures.  Critics Charcot and Richer wrote that the concept of visualizing movement was not formulated until the 17th century, and that Bruegel prefigures motion pictures and Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.  Karcioglu sees the painting as anticipating the 19th-century chronophotography of Étienne-Jules Marey.  Dutch film director Joris Ivens stated, "If Bruegel were alive today he would be a film director."

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg


The Blind Leading the Blind

Prompt: Explain the Analysis of this artwork, The Blind Leading the Blind.

Charles Bouleau wrote of the tension in Bruegel's compositional rhythms.  The picture is divided into nine equal parts divided by a set of parallel oblique lines.  These are divided by another network of lines at constant angles to the first.  The composition invites the reader to follow the action rather than dwell on the individual figures.  The blind men resemble each other in dress and facial features, and they appear as if they succeed one another in a single movement culminating in a fall, beginning on the left with "rambling, then hesitation, alarm, stumbling, and finally falling".  The succession of heads follows a curve, and the further the succession, the greater the space between heads, suggesting increasing speed.  The steep roofs of the background houses contribute to the composition's feeling of motion.Art historian Gustav Glück noted incongruities in that the beggars are well-dressed and carry staves and full purses.  Academics Kenneth C. Lindsay and Bernard Huppé suggest Bruegel may have implied that the blind men represent false priests who ignored Christ's admonitions not to carry gold, purses, or staves; the leader carries a hurdy-gurdy, a musical instrument associated with beggars in Bruegel's time; this perhaps implies a false minstrel, one who sings praises not for God.The church in the background, identified as St. Anna's Church at Dilbeek in modern Belgium, has sparked much commentary.  One view holds that the church is evidence of the painting's moralistic intent—that while the first two blind men stumble and are beyond redemption, the other four are behind the church and thus may be saved.  Another interpretation has it that the church, with a withered tree placed before it, is an anti-Catholic symbol, and that those who follow it will fall following a blind leader as do the men in the ditch.  Others deny any symbolism in the church, noting that churches frequently appear in Bruegel's village scenes as they were a common part of the village landscape.  Medical researcher Zeynel A. Karcioglu suggests the church represents indifference to the plight of the handicapped.In contrast to the posed, static figures typical of paintings of the period, Bruegel suggests the trajectory of time and space through the accelerated movement of the figures.  Critics Charcot and Richer wrote that the concept of visualizing movement was not formulated until the 17th century, and that Bruegel prefigures motion pictures and Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.  Karcioglu sees the painting as anticipating the 19th-century chronophotography of Étienne-Jules Marey.  Dutch film director Joris Ivens stated, "If Bruegel were alive today he would be a film director."

File:Der Blindensturz (Ausschnitt 2).jpg

category:Allegorical paintings by Dutch artists

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3516.jpg

Detail of the second blind man falling. Ophthalmologists have determined his [[Enucleation of the eye

alt=A black-and-white illustration of a chaotic scene

alt=Detail of a painting. A man with no eyes and a white hat stumbles.

alt=Detailed painting of a variety of meat products in a Renaissance-era butcher's stall

The diagonal composition creates tension and gives a sense of movement.

Category:Paintings in the Museo di Capodimonte

alt=Painting detail of a church. Its steeple is to the left. A withered tree stands before the church.

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba

File:A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms - Pieter Aertsen - Google Cultural Institute.jpg

alt=Painting of a busy village scene; a detail in the background of a procession of three blind men is highlighted

alt=A painting of six blind men stumbling; a diagonal grid overlays the image

Bruegel demonstrates mastery of [[foreshortening

:File:Cornelis Massijs - Four Blind Peasants.tiff

alt=Painting detail of a man stumbling onto his back away from the viewer.

Category:Paintings of people with visual impairments

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

List of paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Brueghel - Sieben Laster - Gula.jpg

Category:Paintings based on New Testament parables

''Gluttony'', Bruegel, 1558. This early work follows the busy, fantastical work of [[Hieronymus Bosch

Bruegel earlier depicted [[the blind leading the blind

Category:Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Blind Leading the Blind - composition analysis.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Netherlandish Proverbs - detail of blind men.jpg

File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail) - WGA3517.jpg

:File:Pieter van der Heyden 001 Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 01.jpg