''The Suicide of Saul'' 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 gen ...

, painted in 1562. It is in the collection of the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal d ...

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

Description

An inscription on the painting identifies the subject as the rarely represented scene of the suicide of

Saul Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tri ...

after his defeat by the

Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek ( LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...

. These events are described in 1 Samuel 31, 1-5: Bruegel has chosen the highly dramatic moment of the death of the armourbearer, just as the Philistines are approaching. ^{See 1st detail} Saul's death was interpreted as a punishment of

pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) w ...

- it was among the proud that

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

met

in the ''

Purgatorio ''Purgatorio'' (; Italian for "Purgatory") is the second part of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'', following the '' Inferno'' and preceding the '' Paradiso''. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of D ...

'' - and this may account for Bruegel's choice of such an unusual subject. As with most of his subjects taken from the Bible, Bruegel treats Saul's suicide as a contemporary event, showing the armies in 16th century armour. In 1529 the German painter

Albrecht Altdorfer Albrecht Altdorfer (12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance working in Regensburg, Bavaria. Along with Lucas Cranach the Elder and Wolf Huber he is regarded to be the main representative of the Danube S ...

had shown the clash of the forces of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

and Darius at the Battle of the Issus in this way, and in many other respects, too, Bruegel is in Altdorfer's debt, particularly in the representation of the tiny, massed figures of the soldiers and their forests of lances. Bruegel may also have looked at the battle-scenes of another German painter,

Jörg Breu the Younger Jörg Breu the Younger (c. 1510 – 1547) was a painter of Augsburg. He was the son of Jörg Breu the Elder, and collaborated with his father on some works. In the 1540s, he was involved with the creation of the Fechtbucher commissione ...

, and at a now lost battle-scene by the

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

landscape painter Joachim Patinir which is mentioned by

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembe ...

. ''The Suicide of Saul'' is an early attempt by Bruegel to reconcile landscape and figure painting. If it is compared with one of his latest works, ''

The Magpie on the Gallows ''The Magpie on the Gallows'' (German: ''Die Elster auf dem Galgen)'' is a 1568 oil painting, oil-on-panel painting, wood panel painting by the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. It ...

'' of 1568, its weaknesses are apparent: the foreground and background are not yet reconciled and the jutting outcrop of rock in the centre ^{see 2nd detail} is 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 Italy, ...

device which one may see again in '' The Procession to Calvary''. However, the distant landscape is seen through a shimmering haze, which seems to have the effect of emphasizing the foreground detail, and this does represent a new stage in the evolution of Bruegel's depiction of naturalistic landscape.Cf. Pietro Allegretti, ''Brueghel'', Skira, Milano 2003.

References

External links

''The Suicide of Saul'' at the KHM
(

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

)
Kunsthistorisches Museum's Official WebsiteBosch Bruegel Society99 works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Creative Bruegel laid the foundation of the Netherlands School
(

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Suicide of Saul 1562 paintings Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder Paintings in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Paintings about suicide Christian art about death Paintings depicting Hebrew Bible people Books of Samuel