DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44747#0044
through a thin veil, but Bruegel depicts a modest woman standing
quietly at Jesus’s side. While most of his predecessors used vivid colors
and created a dramatic scene of the Pharisees accusing the woman,
Bruegel used grisaille, with shades of gray reminiscent of Chinese ink
painting, and showed the Pharisees and general onlookers moving
away from Jesus and the woman, giving the scene a deeply spiritual
quality.
As reformist movements penetrated the Netherlands in the mid-
sixteenth century, the Catholic forces responded with severe persecu-
tion of suspected heretics and the Inquisition. Bruegel was deeply
saddened by the mutual criticism and denunciations, the spectacle
of fellow Christians fighting over their faith. Both sides went to ex-
tremes in the effort to justify themselves and destroy their opponents.
Both sides represented the position of the Pharisees who brought out
the sinful woman in order to trap Jesus and cast stones at his message.
Like Jesus, who taught forgiveness of the repentant, Bruegel must
have thought that Christians should listen to the words of the Gospel
and try to understand rather than punish each other even if they
were of different sects. Bruegel chose this subject and painted it for
himself. Did he want to express his own grief over the events of his
time in Jesus’s sorrow? After Bruegel’s death, this picture went to his
second son Jan, and when Jan died in 1625, it was sent to Cardinal
Federico Borromeo according to Jan’s will.
In the late ^tox^Parable ofthe Blind (1568, fig.30), Bruegel again
alluded to the religious confusion of the age. The textual source of
this subject is Matthew 15:14, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall
fall into the ditch.” The painter clearly intended to show a large
number of followers of the blind leader, expanding the number of
figures to six rather than the two indicated by the Bible verse. He also
presents the group of blind men walking away from the village street
and the church, mistakenly moving in the direction of the ditch
where tragedy awaits. Bruegel has created an allegory of spiritual
blindness, of people misled by the claims of competing sects who do
not turn their ears to the true gospel.
There is an engraving from the same period after a drawing by
Hans Bol (fig. 31) which also shows a row of blind men falling into
a ditch as they walk away from a church. It is accompanied by inter-
pretations of the verse from Matthew in three languages, French,
Latin, and Dutch.65! The Dutch inscription in particular is a clear
warning against false teachers.
Because one blind man led another,
they both unexpectedly fall into a ditch.
Are you blind and admit your blindness?
Do not accept any leader.
Or make certain of his sight.
Otherwise you will put yourself in distress.
Another engraving based on Bruegel’s Parable of the Blind bears
the warning
Always walk very carefully, be faithful,
in all things trust nobody but God.
For when one blind man leads another,
one sees them both fall into a ditch.66!
The advice here is clear: “Trust nobody but God.” This passage
obviously indicates that “the blind” means the religiously blind.
Some poems that provide a historical background to Bruegel’s
Parable of the Blind were published in the collection of poems
Refereznen in 1567, one year before this work was published. The
woman author, Anna Bijns (1493-1575), ran a private school called
“The Little Net” in Antwerp, where Bruegel had previously worked.
She was an educator as well as a poetess who devoted her life to chil-
dren’s education. A fervent Catholic, she criticized the Lutherans as
heretics who were spreading “the worst of plagues.” The poem goes
as follows.
“Oh Lord, cast your light on all the blind in this New Year”
The pious Christians, living now
Bear a heavy cross in their hearts
When they see the misery
Of the Holy Church. Who is to blame?
In all the provinces one can see apparent abuse.
The country is full of blind people.
Oh Lord, cast your light on all the Blind in this New Year.
When was more blindness ever heard of?
There are almost as many beliefs as there are men;
The heart sighs with crying.
Although God’s word is being abundantly sown,
54
quietly at Jesus’s side. While most of his predecessors used vivid colors
and created a dramatic scene of the Pharisees accusing the woman,
Bruegel used grisaille, with shades of gray reminiscent of Chinese ink
painting, and showed the Pharisees and general onlookers moving
away from Jesus and the woman, giving the scene a deeply spiritual
quality.
As reformist movements penetrated the Netherlands in the mid-
sixteenth century, the Catholic forces responded with severe persecu-
tion of suspected heretics and the Inquisition. Bruegel was deeply
saddened by the mutual criticism and denunciations, the spectacle
of fellow Christians fighting over their faith. Both sides went to ex-
tremes in the effort to justify themselves and destroy their opponents.
Both sides represented the position of the Pharisees who brought out
the sinful woman in order to trap Jesus and cast stones at his message.
Like Jesus, who taught forgiveness of the repentant, Bruegel must
have thought that Christians should listen to the words of the Gospel
and try to understand rather than punish each other even if they
were of different sects. Bruegel chose this subject and painted it for
himself. Did he want to express his own grief over the events of his
time in Jesus’s sorrow? After Bruegel’s death, this picture went to his
second son Jan, and when Jan died in 1625, it was sent to Cardinal
Federico Borromeo according to Jan’s will.
In the late ^tox^Parable ofthe Blind (1568, fig.30), Bruegel again
alluded to the religious confusion of the age. The textual source of
this subject is Matthew 15:14, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall
fall into the ditch.” The painter clearly intended to show a large
number of followers of the blind leader, expanding the number of
figures to six rather than the two indicated by the Bible verse. He also
presents the group of blind men walking away from the village street
and the church, mistakenly moving in the direction of the ditch
where tragedy awaits. Bruegel has created an allegory of spiritual
blindness, of people misled by the claims of competing sects who do
not turn their ears to the true gospel.
There is an engraving from the same period after a drawing by
Hans Bol (fig. 31) which also shows a row of blind men falling into
a ditch as they walk away from a church. It is accompanied by inter-
pretations of the verse from Matthew in three languages, French,
Latin, and Dutch.65! The Dutch inscription in particular is a clear
warning against false teachers.
Because one blind man led another,
they both unexpectedly fall into a ditch.
Are you blind and admit your blindness?
Do not accept any leader.
Or make certain of his sight.
Otherwise you will put yourself in distress.
Another engraving based on Bruegel’s Parable of the Blind bears
the warning
Always walk very carefully, be faithful,
in all things trust nobody but God.
For when one blind man leads another,
one sees them both fall into a ditch.66!
The advice here is clear: “Trust nobody but God.” This passage
obviously indicates that “the blind” means the religiously blind.
Some poems that provide a historical background to Bruegel’s
Parable of the Blind were published in the collection of poems
Refereznen in 1567, one year before this work was published. The
woman author, Anna Bijns (1493-1575), ran a private school called
“The Little Net” in Antwerp, where Bruegel had previously worked.
She was an educator as well as a poetess who devoted her life to chil-
dren’s education. A fervent Catholic, she criticized the Lutherans as
heretics who were spreading “the worst of plagues.” The poem goes
as follows.
“Oh Lord, cast your light on all the blind in this New Year”
The pious Christians, living now
Bear a heavy cross in their hearts
When they see the misery
Of the Holy Church. Who is to blame?
In all the provinces one can see apparent abuse.
The country is full of blind people.
Oh Lord, cast your light on all the Blind in this New Year.
When was more blindness ever heard of?
There are almost as many beliefs as there are men;
The heart sighs with crying.
Although God’s word is being abundantly sown,
54