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DOC5

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Jeremiah Seth Breitenbach
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Netherlandish Proverbs

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Topsy Turvy World" redirects here. For the Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes,
see Topsy Turvy World (Rocky and Bullwinkle).
This article is about a painting by Peter Bruegel the Elder. For the proverb and its
influence on other art, see The Blue Cloak.

Netherlandish Proverbs

Artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Year 1559

Medium Oil-on-panel

Dimensions 117 cm × 163 cm (46 in


× 64 in)

Location Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Netherlandish Proverbs (Dutch: Nederlandse Spreekwoorden; also


called Flemish Proverbs, The Blue Cloak or The Topsy Turvy World) is a
1559 oil-on-oak-panel painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder that depicts a scene in
which humans and, to a lesser extent, animals and objects, offer literal illustrations
of Dutch-language proverbs and idioms.
Running themes in Bruegel's paintings that appear in Netherlandish Proverbs are
the absurdity, wickedness and foolishness of humans. Its original title, The Blue
Cloak or The Folly of the World, indicates that Bruegel's intent was not just to
illustrate proverbs, but rather to catalogue human folly. Many of the people
depicted show the characteristic blank features that Bruegel used to portray fools. [1]
His son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, specialised in making copies of his father's
work and painted at least 16 copies of Netherlandish Proverbs.[2] Not all versions of
the painting, by father or son, show exactly the same proverbs and they also differ
in other minor details. The original work by Bruegel the Elder is in the collection of
the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin,[3] with the copies in numerous other collections (see
below).
History
[edit]
Context
[edit]
Proverbs were very popular in Bruegel's time and before; a hundred years before
Bruegel's painting, illustrations of proverbs had been popular in the Flemish books
of hours.[4] A number of collections were published, including Adagia, by the
Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus.[5] The French writer François
Rabelais employed significant numbers in his novel Gargantua and Pantagruel,
completed in 1564.[6]
The Flemish artist Frans Hogenberg made an engraving illustrating 43 proverbs in
around 1558, roughly the same time as Bruegel's painting. [7][8] The work is very
similar in composition to Bruegel's and includes certain proverbs (like the Blue
Cloak) which also feature prominently in Netherlandish Proverbs.[8] By depicting
literal renditions of proverbs in a peasant setting, both artists have shown a "world
turned upside down".[8]
Bruegel himself had produced several works, mostly printsa and drawings, on the
subject of proverbs including Big Fish Eat Little Fish (1556) and Twelve
Proverbs (1558), but Netherlandish Proverbs is thought to have been his first large-
scale painting on the theme.
The painting
[edit]
The painting, dated 1559, is considered the best of a series of similar paintings
which at one time or other have all previously been attributed to Pieter Bruegel the
Elder, has been x-rayed for its underdrawing to compare it to other versions. None
of the versions have a provenance going back further than the late 19th-century,
but Bruegel scholars believe that the paintings are the elder Bruegel's inventions,
which all make use of a life-size cartoon with the same underdrawing as that used
in the Berlin version.[9] The paintings, which are not inscribed, tease the viewer into
guessing proverbs. They are based on 1558 and earlier engravings that are
inscribed, in Flemish. The most notable of these regarding the paintings is by Frans
Hogenberg, and it is dated 1558 and accompanied by the title Die blau huicke is dit
meest ghenaemt, maer des weerelts abvisen he beter betaempt (English: Often
called 'The Blue Cloak', this could better be called 'The World's Follies').
The Doetecum brothers produced a print series in 1577 called De Blauwe
Huyck. Theodoor Galle also made a print, dated later, with a similar title: Dese
wtbeeldinghe wort die blauw hvyck genaemt, maer deze werelts abvysen haer
beter betaemt.[10]
Proverbs and idioms
[edit]
Critics have praised the composition for its ordered portrayal and integrated scene.
[8]
There are approximately 126 identifiable proverbs and idioms in the scene,
although Bruegel may have included others which cannot be determined because of
the language change. Some of those incorporated in the painting are still in popular
use, for instance "Swimming against the tide", "Banging one's head against a brick
wall" and "Armed to the teeth". Many more have faded from use, which makes
analysis of the painting harder. "Having one's roof tiled with tarts", for example,
which meant to have an abundance of everything and was an image Bruegel would
later feature in his painting of the idyllic Land of Cockaigne (1567).
The Blue Cloak, the piece's original title, features in the centre of the piece and is
being placed on a man by his wife, indicating that she is cuckolding him. Other
proverbs indicate human foolishness. A man fills in a pond after his calf has died.
Just above the central figure of the blue-cloaked man, another man carries daylight
in a basket. Some of the figures seem to represent more than one figure of speech
(whether this was Bruegel's intention or not is unknown), such as the man shearing
a sheep in the centre bottom left of the picture. He is sitting next to a man shearing
a pig, so represents the expression "One shears sheep and one shears pigs",
meaning that one has the advantage over the other, but may also represent the
advice "Shear them but don't skin them", meaning make the most of available
assets.

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