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The Holy Family in the Snow
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Philip Galle
Attributed to after
Pieter Bruegel the Elder
The Resurrection,
possibly c.
1570, engraving
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Bruegel's approach in The Procession to Calvary
(1564) is similar: while Christ, who has collapsed under the
cross, is located roughly at the centre of the painted wood
panel, he is engulfed by the crowds pouring out of town on
the left and riding or strolling in a great arc towards the
hill of Calvary. It is the panorama of a day out. Riders in
red coats - presumably a sort of constabulary -point the
way. On the left near the road, some women with barrows and
burdens are working against the flow of people. A grim-faced
woman is holding back her husband - believed to be Simon of
Cyrene, whom the soldiers are ordering to assist in carrying
the cross. They must be making quite a commotion, for many
bystanders are turning to look. It is not clear whether
assistance in carrying the cross is in fact permitted.
Whereas some of the accompanying executioners or craftsmen
are indeed doing so, one of their number has placed his foot
demonstratively on the cross, and the red-coats are also
becoming involved. Boys are playing; a pedlar is sitting in
the foreground, his back to the observer; once again we
notice a man standing at the right-hand edge of the painting
who bears a resemblance to the painter.
Most of the people in this general outing seem unaware of
the significance behind the impending crucifixion. Only one
group, on a raised rock in the right-hand foreground, does
not fit into the general picture, on account of their
old-fashioned Gothic garments and gestures of grief. Bruegel
has collected together here the traditional women as if
under the cross; John the disciple is comforting them. Why
the artist should have added a different stylistic level to
a picture otherwise so realistic in detail remains
unexplained. Though Bruegel was not the only artist to treat
biblical scenes in an almost peripheral manner, his approach
was probably the most consistent of those who painted in
this manner. What was his intention here? We may be certain
that he was not seeking to provoke; he did not want to be
seen as degrading the fundamental elements of Christian
belief. This is indicated by the fact that well-nigh half
his paintings are devoted to biblical subjects, or at least
include them.
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The Procession to Calvary
1564
Bruegel has hidden Christ, who has collapsed under his
cross, in the midst of a crowd moving towards the place of
execution as if to a public spectacle, playing and horsing
around, discussing. In the background, we can make out a
Flemish Jerusalem on the left and the hill of Calvary on the
right, with a rock and windmill of unknown significance
between them.
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The Procession to Calvary (detail)
1564
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The Procession to Calvary (detail)
1564
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