''The Beggars'' or ''The Cripples'' is an oil-on-panel by the Netherlandish Renaissance artist

Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called genr ...

, painted in 1568. It is now in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in Paris.

History

This work is the only painting by Bruegel in the Louvre, received as a gift in 1892. Attempts have been made to interpret the picture of five cripples and a beggar-woman as an allusion to a historical event: the badger's tails, or foxes' tails, on their clothes might refer to the Gueux, a rebel party formed against the government of

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

and

Granvelle Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (20 August 151721 September 1586), Comte de La Baume Saint Amour, was a Bisontin (Free Imperial City of Besançon) statesman, made a cardinal, who followed his father as a leading minister of the Spanish Habsbu ...

; but these also occur in Bruegel's ''

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent ''The Fight Between Carnival and Lent'' was painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1559. It is a panorama of contemporary life in the Southern Netherlands. While the painting contains nearly 200 characters, it is unified under the theme of the tr ...

'' in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, dated 1559. Still, the beggars are not quite ordinary beggars, as they wear carnival headgear representing various classes of society: a cardboard crown (the king), a paper

shako A shako (, , or ) is a tall, cylindrical military cap, usually with a visor, and sometimes tapered at the top. It is usually adorned with an ornamental plate or badge on the front, metallic or otherwise; and often has a feather, plume (see hackle) ...

(the soldier), a beret (the bourgeois), a cap (the peasant), and a

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

(the bishop). The work clearly has some satirical meaning, which has so far eluded interpretation. Perhaps physical imperfections are meant to symbolise moral decrepitude, which can affect all men irrespective of class. On the back of the painting are two inscriptions which seem to date from the 16th century. One is in

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

, and in a very fragmentary state; the other is in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and records the admiration some humanist felt for Bruegel, ''whose art surpasses Nature itself''.R. H. Marijnissen, ''Bruegel, tout l'oeuvre peint et dessiné'', Éditions Albin Michel (1988), pp. 354-358 The painting dates from the end of Bruegel's career, when he showed a keener interest in the natural world. Tiny though it is, the landscape seen through the opening is bathed in a delicate light which simmers like dew on the foliage.

Description

On the back of the painting is written: What nature lacks, is lacking in our art, So great was the grace accorded to our painter. Here nature, expressed in painted forms, is astonished To see through these cripples that Bruegel is her equal.

Analysis

Modern eyes may be inclined to conclude that Brugel intended to invoke sympathy for the plight of the disabled figures, but from a historical perspective this is unlikely. Europeans of Bruegel's time gave little regard to beggars, and the painting provides hints that Bruegel shared this denigration: the figures are outside the town walls and are posed in such ways as to provoke contempt and amusement. The foxtail on some of the figures was a symbol at the time of ridicule in political caricature and real life. The woman behind them bears an empty bowl and may appear to be ignoring the beggars.

References

Works cited

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External links

''The Beggars'' at the Louvre99 works by Pieter Bruegel the ElderComplete list of paintings which includes all of the 100 proverbs from the painting, with explanation (in French).

Creativity Brueghel laid the foundation of the Netherlands School
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Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Drawings and Prints
', a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on ''The Beggars'' (see Crippled Beggars) {{DEFAULTSORT:Beggars (Bruegel), The 1568 paintings Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder Paintings in the Louvre by Dutch, Flemish and German artists Disability in the arts