PETER BRUEGHEL THE ELDER
“The triumph of the death”, 1560
oil on table, 117- 162 cm. - Madrid , Prado useum
Parallelisms are commonly established between the works by Hyeronimus Bosch and those by Brueghel, but the truth is that the differences between both of them are abysmal. Whereas Bosch's fantasies are born of a deep deception and preoccupation for the human being, with a clearly moralizing message, the works by Bruegel (as we can see in works as “The Dutch Proverbs” or “Children Games”) are full of irony and even a love for the rural life that seems to anticipate the Dutch landscape painting of the next century.
Even in a work as tragic as this, the irony of Brueghel is easily identifiable. The Death advances unstoppable, and does not make any distinction between the rich or the poor, the just or the sinner, the man and the woman. A rich gentleman observes powerless how the skeletal hordes rob all his currencies, while one of the demons shows him a sand clock in a mocking attitude. Another one of these demons offers a skull to one of the women at the banquet, while a pair of lovers, unaware of the apocalyptic scene, continues with their love songs.
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