''The Magpie on the Gallows'' (German: ''Die Elster auf dem Galgen)'' is a 1568

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

-on- wood panel painting by the Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It is now in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt.

Description

The painting shows a

world landscape The world landscape, a translation of the German ''Weltlandschaft'', is a type of composition in Western painting showing an imaginary panoramic landscape seen from an elevated viewpoint that includes mountains and lowlands, water, and buildings. ...

, with the foreground a woodland clearing containing three peasants dancing to a bagpipes, next to a

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

upon which a magpie is perched. The gallows stands in the centre of the picture, dividing the painting in two, a

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

composition with the right side more "open" and left more "closed",Early Netherlandish painting
Volume 4 of Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, Cambridge University Press, 1986, , p.32 with the magpie close to the exact centre of the painting. The gallows appears to form an "

impossible object An impossible object (also known as an impossible figure or an undecidable figure) is a type of optical illusion that consists of a two- dimensional figure which is instantly and naturally understood as representing a projection of a three-d ...

", similar to a

Penrose triangle The Penrose triangle, also known as the Penrose tribar, the impossible tribar, or the impossible triangle, is a triangular impossible object, an optical illusion consisting of an object which can be depicted in a perspective drawing, but cannot e ...

, with the bases of the posts seemingly planted side by side, but with the right side of the cross-member receding into the distance, and contradictory lighting. Another magpie sits on a rock at the base of the gallows, near the skull of an animal. The only people occupy the left foreground: a man defecates in the shadows to the left, while others watch the three dancers. To the right stands a cross with a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

behind. The background opens on to a view of a river valley, with a town to the left and castle on a rocky crag above, and a tower on a rock outcrop to the right, and distant hills and the sky beyond. Behind the dancers rise two intertwined trees, a motif used by Bruegel in an earlier drawing of bears playing in a forest. An impression of depth is given by the progression from dense brown tones dominating of the foreground, through green midtones in the middle distance, to light blues and greys for the background.

Analysis

Bruegel's painting was created the year after

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba (29 October 150711 December 1582), known as the Grand Duke of Alba (, pt, Grão Duque de Alba) in Spain and Portugal and as the Iron Duke ( or shortly 'Alva') in the Netherlands, was a S ...

, arrived in the Netherlands, sent by the Spanish king,

Philip II Philip II may refer to: * Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC) * Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor * Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374) * Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404) * Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497) * Philip ...

to suppress the Dutch Revolt. The gallows may represent the threat of execution of those preaching the new

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

doctrine, and the painting may allude to several Netherlandish proverbs. There is a direct allusion to the

Netherlandish The Low Countries comprise the coastal Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta region in Western Europe, whose definition usually includes the modern countries of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Both Belgium and the Netherlands derived their ...

proverbs of dancing on the gallows or shitting on the gallows, meaning a

mocking Mockery or mocking is the act of insulting or making light of a person or other thing, sometimes merely by taunting, but often by making a caricature, purporting to engage in imitation in a way that highlights unflattering characteristics. Mocke ...

of the state. It also alludes to the belief that magpies are

gossips Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

, and that gossip leads to hangings.Painting life: the art of Pieter Bruegel, the Elder
Robert L. Bonn, 2006, , p.106 And that the way to the gallows leads through pleasant meadows.The Last Flowering of the Middle Ages
Baron Joseph Van Der Elst, Kessinger Publishing, 2005, , p.114 It is not known why or for whom the picture was painted. Its date of 1568 makes this painting one of Bruegel's last works before his death in 1569; indeed, perhaps his final work. Bruegel asked his wife to burn some of his pictures on his death, but told her to keep the Magpie on the Gallows for herself.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magpie on the Gallows Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1560s paintings Birds in art Paintings in Hesse

Description

Analysis

See also

References

Further reading

External links