|
|
|
Pieter Brueghel the Elder |
|
|
|
|
Demons in Our Midst |
|
|
|
Bruegel's century saw the
exploration of the Earth's surface, a fresh survey of the
heavens, the examination of the human body, and the
cataloguing of the animal and plant worlds. People's
interest was focused upon what we today would call reality.
At that time, however, many will have regarded as real, as
existing, not only trees and animals, the liver and the
spleen, but also demons. Scientific studies were unable to
dispel handed-down popular belief. Many celestial phenomena,
physical deformities, diseases and epidemics were as yet
inexplicable, and were accordingly put down to the influence
of devils and demons, together with their human accomplices.
The latter alone, the witches and sorcerers, could be caught
and punished. Thousands supposedly in league with the forces
of evil - in particular women -were tortured, found guilty,
and burnt at the stake.
Confessional reports and biographies reflect the great
extent to which devils and demons were experienced as part
of everyday reality. In the visual arts, they are given
striking expression in the work of Hieronymus Bosch,
likewise a Netherlander. Bruegel used his own fantasy to
develop the tradition established by Bosch. He drew models
for the prints of The Seven Deadly Sins (1558, detail p. 39)
under commission from his publisher, Cock. Bruegel produced
disturbing, unnatural landscapes filled with magical beings,
in part playfully fantastical, in part genuinely
threatening. It was presumably this mixture between the two
elements, perhaps the thrill of fear, that was so sought
after at the time.

The Seven Deadly Sins, or
The Vices: Desidia (Sloth)
1557

Avaritia (Greed)
1558
The playful element is
given less prominence in the artist's paintings, which are
more serious in nature. Bruegel has depicted the origin of
the demons in The Fall of the Rebel Angels (1562), in which
the Archangel Michael, together with his followers, is
driving the angels who have rebelled against God out of
Heaven. Falling to Hell, they are transformed into devils
and demons. The proximity of God is indicated at the top
edge by a brightly lit semicircle; furthermore, the upper -
more heavenly - part of the picture is more clearly arranged
and less congested than the lower one, approaching hell, in
which the figures are chaotically falling past each other. A
comparison of the angels and the devilish figures reveals
that the former are clothed in lavishly swirling garments,
leaving only their heads and hands visible. In contrast,
most of the "evil ones" are naked, opening wide their mouths
or tearing open their own bodies and - in some cases -
presenting their buttocks to the observer's gaze. Bruegel
has painted them merely as bodies, demonstrating the
distance that lies between them and the spiritual beings,
the angels.

The Fall of the Rebel
Angels
1562
The Archangel Michael,
portrayed in golden-brown armour in the middle of the
picture, is driving the angels who have rebelled against God
out of Heaven. The angels in white garments are fighting on
his side, while those who have broken away from God are
metamorphosing into the mostly naked bodies of fantastic
figures.

The Fall of the Rebel
Angels (detail)
1562
|
|
|
|
The painter has also
assembled the figures of the underworld around Dulle Griet
(Mad Meg) (c. 1562), a traditional figure in Flanders who -
also known as "Gret Sourpuss" - was always quarrelling with
her husband or - under the name of "Black Gret" - passed
herself off as Queen in the place of her mistress. Bruegel
has depicted her as the embodiment of aggressive
miserliness. Sword in hand, she is gathering up plates, pots
and pans. The painter has turned upside down all the
rulesgoverning the pleasing presentation of women: no smile
touches her lips; no hair plays about her brow; her
skinappears dull; her toothless mouth hangs open; her
clothes are shabby; her armour does not contribute to the
elegance of her bust, but simply hangs in front of her
belly. And instead of turning gracefully towards the
observer, she is running past him with leaden steps, seeking
to bring her booty to a safe place.
Yet she remains a human; she is no demon. The same is
equally true of the women behind her. The devilish figures
in this picture, in those few cases where their sex can be
identified at all, are male. Their visors lowered, they are
coming out from under the bridge, and are being tied by the
women to cushions. "To tie a devil to a pillow" means to
cope with the devil in question, or with a man.
Everything in the picture is the opposite of what it should
be. The head which serves as the entrance to Hell has a
board as its eyelid; its skin is made up of stones; a tree
is growing out of its ear - the painter is repeatedly
blending plant, animal, human, organic and inorganic
elements. The mouth of Hell is part of a living creature and
simultaneously an enclosed space; the crown on the forehead
of Hell is simultaneously a wall with battlements; the
eyebrows are comprised of jugs. It is a topsy-turvy world.
The Divine order has no validity here. A hellish wall of
fire blazes on the horizon.
Bruegel's first biographer, while providing us with
information regarding the traditional figure, gives us no
hint as to whether the painter was seeking to comment upon
woman's position in contemporary society. From today's point
of view, she was underprivileged. Her father and husband
decided what was to be done with her property, while she was
ousted from one of her most important occupational fields,
that of popular medicine, by the university medicine
practised by men. Only too often were midwives and "wise
women" the victims of witch trials. Women were also
underprivileged with respect to the Church, which expected
them to be silent and considered them less perfect than man
(who had been created first) and burdened by Eve's legacy as
the eternal temptress. Though the women in this picture are
stronger than the male half-beasts, they neither triumph nor
exactly attract the observer's sympathy. It is unlikely that
Bruegel intended any more than the creation of an
aggressive, demonic environment for a traditional figure.

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
c. 1562
Bruegel has depicted a
traditional figure as the embodiment of aggressive greed.
She is running towards the gaping jaws of Hell, demons are
raising a drawbridge, and we are left to guess whether Dulle
Griet is seeking to bring her booty to a safe place or to
conquer Hell.

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
(detail)
c. 1562

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
(detail)
c. 1562

La tentazione di S.Antonio
|
|
|
|

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
(detail)
c. 1562

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
(detail)
c. 1562
This painting likewise
contains a world filled with strange, diabolical figures,
often made up of dissimilar parts.
Here, a sitting figure with a boat on his back is spooning
gold out of an egg-shaped rear.

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
(detail)
c. 1562

Dulle Griet (Mad Meg)
(detail)
c. 1562
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|
|