I love Pieter Bruegel. He was one of the most original and imaginative painters of the late Netherlandish Renaissance. His paintings are so full of interesting little scenes and characters with so much detail you can stare at them for hours. Okay maybe you have better things to do but I can stare at them for hours.
He was nicknamed “Peasant Bruegel” to distinguish him from the rest of the Brueghel artist dynasty (Pieter the Younger, Jan, Jan The Younger, etc.), of which he was the patriarch. “Peasant” comes from his landscapes and town settings being filled with the daily activities of the peasantry, both at work and play. One of the largest influences on his art was the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, which is most evident in Bruegel’s more gruesome allegories such as Mad Meg and the Triumph of Death. Though his scenery was usually filled with characters and stories, he was considered a master of landscapes, getting most of his inspiration from nature. Some of his notable landscapes are Hunters in the Snow, The Tower of Babel, and Landscape With The Fall of Icarus.
Some of the most interesting paintings he’s done are Children’s Games, in which at least 50 recognizable games are played in the streets of a village by children dressed in adult clothing (to show adult daily affairs are akin to the games of children), and Netherlandish Proverbs (aka The Blue Cloak, detail above), in which 100 adages and witticisms are creatively portrayed all around a village. You may remember the first post about Netherlandish Proverbs where several proverbs were listed along with their meanings. But these are just too much fun for only one post!
Some More Proverbs
To hang one’s cloak according to the wind- To adapt one’s viewpoint to the current popular opinion.
To toss feathers to the wind- To work fruitlessly.
It is ill to swim against the stream- It is difficult to oppose the general opinion. A similar to this is “Ride a horse in the direction it is going”- Abraham Lincoln.
To not care whose house is on fire as long as one can warm oneself at the blaze- To take every opportunity regardless of the consequences to others.
He who has spilled his porridge can not get all of it up again- Once something is done it cannot be undone again; though a mistake can be mostly fixed, some damage/loss will remain.
To cast roses before swine- To waste effort on the unworthy (pearls before swine).
To shave the fool without lather- To trick somebody.
To shit on the world- To despise everything.
To play on the pillory- To attract attention to one’s shameful acts.
To fall from the ox onto the ass- To fall on hard times. One I like which is somewhat similar to this is “To jump from the frying pan into the fire” - To go from one bad situation to a worser one.
To gaze at the stork- To waste time.
To keep one’s eye on the sail- To be alert.
To fall through the basket- To be rejected.
To fry the whole herring for the sake of the roe- To do much to achieve a little.
One shears sheep, the other shears pigs- One has all the advantages, the other has none.
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