| The Blind Leading the Blind | |
|---|---|
| Dutch:De parabel der blinden | |
 | |
| Artist | Pieter Bruegel the Elder |
| Year | 1568 (1568) |
| Type | Distemper on linencanvas |
| Dimensions | 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in) |
| Location | Museo di Capodimonte,Naples |
The Blind Leading the Blind,Blind, orThe Parable of the Blind (Dutch:De parabel der blinden) is a painting by theNetherlandish Renaissance artistPieter Bruegel the Elder, completed in 1568. Executed indistemper on linen canvas, it measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in). It depicts the Biblical parable ofthe blind leading the blind fromMatthew 15:14, and is in the collection of theMuseo di Capodimonte inNaples, Italy.
The painting reflects Bruegel's mastery of observation. Each figure has a different eye affliction, including corneal leukoma, atrophy ofglobe andremoved 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 sonPieter Brueghel the Younger, and the work has inspired literature such as poetry byCharles Baudelaire andWilliam Carlos Williams, anda novel byGert Hofmann.
Bruegel paintedThe Blind the year before his death. It has a bitter, sorrowful tone, which may be related to the establishment of theCouncil of Troubles in 1567 by the government of theSpanish Netherlands. The council ordered mass arrests and executions to enforce Spanish rule and suppress Protestantism. The placement ofSt. Anna's Church of the village ofSint-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.
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.[1] 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.[2] A cowherd stands in the background.[3]
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Bruegel based the work on the Biblicalparable ofthe blind leading the blind fromMatthew 15:14,[a] in which Christ refers to thePharisees.[4] According to art critic Margaret Sullivan, Bruegel's audience was likely as familiar withclassical literature as with the Bible.Erasmus had published hisAdagia two years before Bruegel's painting, and it contained the quotation"Caecus caeco dux" ("the blind leader of the blind") by Roman poetHorace.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
The faces and bodies of the blind men, and background detail including the church, are rendered in exceptionally fine detail.[8] The backward-falling posture of the guide demonstrates Bruegel's mastery offoreshortening.[2] Bruegel's settings tend to be fictional,[b] but that ofThe Blind Leading the Blind has been identified[8] as the village ofSint-Anna-Pede,[9] and the church asSt. Anna's Church.[10]
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One of four surviving Bruegel paintings indistemper,[c] the work is atüchlein, a type of light painting that uses tempera made from pigment mixed with water-soluble glue. This medium was widely used in painting andmanuscript 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, illuminatorMayken Verhulst; his teacherPieter Coecke van Aelst; and painter and illuminatorGiulio Clovio, with whom he resided in Italy and whom he helped paint miniatures in distemper.[12] 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,[13] such as of a herdsman and some fowl in the middle ground.[14][d] The grain of the linen[7] canvas is visible beneath the delicate brushstrokes.[15] The work is signed and datedBRVEGEL.M.D.LX.VIII.[16] The painting measures 86 cm × 154 cm (34 in × 61 in),[4] the largest of 1568.[7]
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[17] in the foreground which is divided diagonally from the landscape background.[18] 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.[19]
In contrast to earlier depictions of the blind as beneficiaries of divine gifts, Bruegel's men are stumbling and decrepit,[20] and portrayed without sympathy. The eyeless figure would have been interpreted as a man who had suffered punishment for wrongdoing or fighting.[21]
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,[20] though there is still some diagnostic disagreement.[22] French anatomical pathologistJean-Martin Charcot and anatomical artistPaul 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.[7] The first man's eyes are not visible; the second has hadhis eyes removed, along with the eyelids: the third suffers fromcorneal leukoma; the fourth atrophy of theglobe; the fifth is either blind with no light perception, orphotophobic; and the sixth haspemphigus[7] orbullous pemphigoid.[23] 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.[24]
Sixteenth-century Europe was undergoing many societal changes: theProtestant Reformation and itsrejection of public religious imagery;Renaissance humanism and its emphasis onempiricism at the expense of religious faith; and the growth of themiddle class amidst the rise ofmercantilism. It was a time of rapid advances in learning and knowledge, and a move towards the empirical sciences—the age of theheliocentric theory ofCopernicus and ofGutenberg's printing presses. Thecartography ofOrtelius influenced the painting of landscapes, and the advancesVesalius brought to the study ofanatomy via the direct observation of dissected bodies, motivated artists to pay greater attention to the accuracy of the anatomy in their works.[25]
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.[26]
Pieter Bruegel the Elder began his career illustrating landscapes and fantastic scenes in a dense style that earned him a reputation as artistic heir toHieronymus 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 largeButcher's Stall of 1551. Bruegel's subjects became more quotidian and his style observational.[26] He achieved fame for detailed, accurate and realistic portrayals ofpeasants, 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.[27] The peasants Bruegel at first depicted were featureless and undifferentiated; as his work matured, their physiognomy became markedly more detailed and expressive.[8]
In 1563, Bruegel married Mayken, the daughter of his teacher Pieter Coecke van Aelst,[28] and moved toBrussels, the seat of government in theSpanish Netherlands (1556–1714). In 1567 the governor of the Netherlands, theDuke of Alba, established theCouncil of Troubles (popularly called the "Blood Council") to suppress non-Catholic religions and enforce Spanish rule, leading to mass arrests and executions.[4] Whether Bruegel had Calvinist sympathies or intended a political message inThe Blind is not clear, but the evidence indicates he likely held views critical of theCatholic Church.[29] A bitter, sorrowful tone characterizes his last works, such asThe Blind andThe Magpie on the Gallows.[30]
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 thehealing the blind near Jericho inMark 10:46–52.[e] Following the Reformation, painted depictions of saints and miracles fell out of favour in Protestant areas.[20] In Catholic thought, charitableworks of mercy, such as giving alms to the blind and poor, weregood works which, together with faith, helped the salvation of the doer. However, the Protestant doctrine ofsola fide rejected the efficacy of works in achieving salvation, prescribing that it depended on faith alone (and the complication of God'spredestined will for each individual). The status of charity for the poor and infirm diminished, and beggars saw their circumstances deteriorate.[31] In popular literature of the time, the blind were depicted as rogues or targets of pranks.[21] The parable of the blind leading the blind also appears as one of the illustrated proverbs in Bruegel'sNetherlandish Proverbs (1559).[f][32]
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.[33] 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,[34] and they appear as if they succeed one another in a single movement culminating in a fall,[9] beginning on the left with "rambling, then hesitation, alarm, stumbling, and finally falling".[34] The succession of heads follows a curve, and the further the succession, the greater the space between heads, suggesting increasing speed.[34] The steep roofs of the background houses contribute to the composition's feeling of motion.[7]
Art historianGustav 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;[35][g] the leader carries ahurdy-gurdy, a musical instrument associated with beggars in Bruegel's time;[36] this perhaps implies a false minstrel, one who sings praises not for God.[6]
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The church in the background, identified as St. Anna's Church atDilbeek in modernBelgium,[10] 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.[31] Medical researcherZeynel A. Karcioglu suggests the church represents indifference to the plight of the handicapped.[8]
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,[9] and that Bruegel prefigures motion pictures[37] andDuchamp'sNude Descending a Staircase, No. 2.[9] Karcioglu sees the painting as anticipating the 19th-centurychronophotography ofÉtienne-Jules Marey.[7] Dutch film directorJoris Ivens stated, "If Bruegel were alive today he would be a film director."[9]
The Blind Leading the Blind has been considered one of the great masterpieces of painting.[38] Bruegel's is the earliest surviving painting whose subject is the parable of the blind leading the blind, though there are earlier engravings from theLow Countries known that Bruegel was likely aware of,[31] includingone attributed to Bosch,[3] andanother byCornelis Massijs.[39] Bruegel's paintings have enjoyed worldwide popularity and have been the subjects of scholarly works in disciplines even outside the arts, such as medicine.[40]
Bruegel's depictions of beggars in paintings such asThe Blind Leading the Blind left a strong influence on those who followed him, such asDavid Vinckboons.Hieronymus Wierix incorporated a copy ofThe Blind Leading the Blind into the seriesTwelve Flemish Proverbs.[41] A forgery attributed toJacob Savery calledThe Blind appearedc. 1600 bearing a false inscription dating it 1562.[42] Bruegel's sonPieter Brueghel the Younger painted a larger copy inc. 1616[19] with extra details, including a flock of sheep, that hangs in theLouvre;[7] this copy was in the collection ofFerdinando Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, patron of ItalianBaroque painterDomenico Fetti, who may have been influenced by the painting when he executed his own version of the parable around 1621–22.[43]
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The painting has been the subject of poetry, including works by the GermansJosef Weinheber andWalter Bauer,[44] and FrenchmanCharles Baudelaire's "The Blind".[45][h] AmericanWilliam Carlos Williams wrote a series of poems on Bruegel's paintings; his "Parable of the Blind" focuses on the meaning ofThe Blind's composition—a word that appears three times in the poems eighttercets. The figures stumble diagonally downward, and—[46]
... one
follows the other stick in
hand triumphant to disaster
— William Carlos Williams, "Parable of the Blind",Pictures from Brueghel (1962)
Bruegel's painting served as a model for Belgian playwrightMaurice Maeterlinck's one-actThe Blind.[47]West German writerGert Hofmann's 1985 novelThe Parable of the Blind features Bruegel and the six blind men: to accomplish a realistic portrayal, Bruegel repeatedly has the men cross a bridge and fall into a creek in midwinter until their expressions achieve the desolation Bruegel believes represents the human condition.[48] A 1987 historical novelBruegel, or the Workshop of Dreams byClaude-Henri Rocquet [fr] has Bruegel painting the blind out of fear of losing his own eyesight.[8]
French cartoonistF'Murr's comic stripLes Aveugles (1991) was inspired by Bruegel's painting.[49][50]
The Blind Leading the Blind andThe Misanthrope were discovered in the collection of the Count Giovanni Battista Masi ofParma in 1612, whenRanuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma confiscated Masi's property for his part in a conspiracy against theHouse of Farnese. How the painting arrived in Italy is uncertain, though it is known that Masi's father Cosimo returned from the Netherlands in 1595 with a number of Netherlandish paintings.[13] The Farnese art collection came to be one of the largest of the Renaissance era, divided amongst the Farnese residences in Parma and Rome.[51]
In the 18th century,Charles III of Spain inherited the collection from his mother,Elisabeth Farnese, heiress of theDuchy of Parma in north Italy, who became Queen consort of Spain. As a younger son, Charles had been madeDuke of Parma, then boldly seized theKingdom of Naples, becomingCharles VII of Naples, before inheriting the Spanish throne. Charles housed the collection in what is now theNational Museum of Capodimonte inNaples.[51] The painting hangs in the Capodimonte[52] withThe Misanthrope, as part of theFarnese collection.[53]
Contemple-les, mon âme; ils sont vraiment affreux!
Pareils aux mannequins; vaguement ridicules;
Terribles, singuliers comme les somnambules;
Dardant on ne sait où leurs globes ténébreux.
Leurs yeux, d'où la divine étincelle est partie,
Comme s'ils regardaient au loin, restent levés
Au ciel; on ne les voit jamais vers les pavés
Pencher rêveusement leur tête appesantie.
Ils traversent ainsi le noir illimité,
Ce frère du silence éternel. Ô cité!
Pendant qu'autour de nous tu chantes, ris et beugles,
Eprise du plaisir jusqu'à l'atrocité,
Vois! je me traîne aussi! mais, plus qu'eux hébété,
Je dis: Que cherchent-ils au Ciel, tous ces aveugles?
—Charles Baudelaire,Les Fleurs du mal (1861 edition)
Media related toThe Blind Leading the Blind by Pieter Bruegel the Elder at Wikimedia Commons_-_Portrait_of_Pieter_Brueghel_(I)_-_1572_-_RP-P-1907-593_cropped.jpg)
