Bruegel and the Revolt of the Netherlands

Author(s): Irving L. Zupnick

Source: Art Journal, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Summer, 1964), pp. 283-289
Published by: College Art Association
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BRUEGEL AND THE REVOLT OF THE

tion; that is, if we consider the possibility that he was not unmoved by the dramatic events that foreshadowed rebellion,
and also that he had no wish to suffer martyrdom for his convictions. Bruegel emerges as a rather complex personality, when
we consider the evidence in his works between 1559 and 1564,

NETHERLANDS

the period in which he seemed to be most touched by current

Irving L. Zupnick

events. Like most of his friends among the Humanists, his

convictions do not appear to favor one side or the other; however, while he maintained an air of detachment and tried to
show that neither side had a monopoly on folly and madness,
In the 1850's Baudelaire did not hesitate to call some of
he was not unmoved by cruelty and suffering, and when he attacks injustice and evil, it is not always in the general sense,
Bruegel's work "political";1 a century later the consensus of
but often in connection with particular historical incidents.
opinion is that he was above such considerations.2
The argument against political meaning in Bruegel's work
is based on the well-known fact that Cardinal Granvelle and

Philip II acquired a number of his paintings; that this would

not have been the case if they suspected him of subversion.
The counter-argument gains its strongest support from Carel
van Mander's story about Bruegel's drawings that were supplied with inscriptions "which, at the time, were too biting
and too sharp, and which he had burned by his wife during
his last illness, because of remorse, or fear that most disagreeable consequences might grow out of them."'3
Neither of these arguments is conclusive; and, even if we
accept them at face value, they are too contradictory. If we
consider his popularity among the Spaniards as proof that he

was apolitical, we cannot explain the indirectness and abstruseness of his art. Further, we could not expect him, in sup-

port of a cause that must have seemed hopeless, to be foolish

enough to provide exact explanations that would have placed
him at the mercy of the Spanish Inquisition. Conversely, van
Mander's story, which suggests both, "remorse" and "fear," as
his motivations for destroying certain drawings, is too vague
to settle the question.
There is then, a contradiction between these two bits of

evidence; however, it is bothersome only if one considers

Bruegel as if he were a two-dimensional figure, either black or

white. The contradiction seems to dissolve when we allow

11

The political events between 1559 and 1564 were of the

sort to stir up any Netherlander. In 1559 Spain and France

ended their stale-mated war on the excuse that it was neces-

sary to stamp out heresy in both kingdoms. As an aftermath

of the war, Philip II, in order not to jeopardize his subsidy
from the colonies, agreed to insistent demands from the Netherlanders and withdrew the Spanish army as he returned to

Spain. He appointed his half-sister, Margaret, Duchess of

Parma, as Governess of the Netherlands, giving her the job of
persecuting the heretics. In many respects she was only the
figure-head of Spanish oppression, since, in reality, the government was ruled by Granvelle's Council of State, which carried out the orders sent by Philip II.
The situation took a turn for the worse in 1559, when

Philip II, in order to strengthen his hand against religious

dissidence, formed seventeen new bishoprics, appointing the
new officials personally. This alienated both the nobility and
the incumbent abbots; the former lost their usual sinecures,
and the latter lost the wealthier posts and were relegated to a

secondary position behind these politically powerful "new

men." What is more significant is, that with this move, the

Spanish Crown had united State and Church in the role of

oppressors, also uniting those who fought for political, with

those who fought for religious, freedom. Granvelle personally
that Bruegel might have possessed the common traits of hubecame symbolic of this unholy union, as head of the Council
manity, common sense and a normal desire for self-preserva-

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Fig. 1. Pieter Bruegel, Fides. Amsterdam, Rijkmuseum.

Fig. 2. Pieter Bruegel, Spes. Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett.

283 Zupnick: Bruegel and the Revolt of the Netherlands

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of State, as Cardinal and Primate of the Netherlands, and as

the symbols of the Passion and the Resurrection of Christ,6

Chief Inquisitor; so that it was necessary for Philip II to recall

him to Spain in 1564 in order to mollify the Netherlanders.

while around her the multitude partakes of the Sacraments.7

During the period from 1559 to 1564, the Spanish Regent, Margaret, tried to steer a moderate course in spite of
Philip II's reiterated demands for action. Her indecision and
inaction encouraged mounting unity and strength among the
dissidents. During the next three years, however, the pace increased; there were offensive, and counter-offensive moves,
which ended this phase of the resistance in the defeat of the
rebels. In 1565 and 1566, concessions were wrung from Margaret by a league of nobles who proudly took the name, "The

Beggars."4 As 1566 drew to a close, Margaret began to ex-

ploit a religious rift among the nobles, and during the next
year she crushed the Protestant forces in battle while the Catholics remained neutral. Finally, in 1567 the Spanish army returned to the Netherlands under the Duke of Alva, who was
commissioned to institute a rigorous program against heresy
and political unrest.
The fact that Bruegel's most overt criticism of events appears during the period from 1559 to 1564, which preceded
the period of direct action, and that he turned himself to landscapes and other more neutral subjects after 1565, as the situation ripened into open rebellion, affirms the argument that he
was a cautious man who was in no way committed to the rebel's

In his Hope, also of 1559 (fig. 2), the virtue almost

seems like folly. The personification stands on the anchor of

a boat that is sinking close to the shore. A floating survivor
of a shipwreck is about to suffer Jonah's fate, while others are
about to be dashed against the shore by the turbulent seas. On
the shore, in the foreground, a group of tormented prisoners
are either praying for release, or letting down a bottle through
their barred windows in hopes of getting water. Behind the
prison, on a dock, a fisherman attends three lines while his
family prays for his success. Behind this group, as a man prays
before a holy image, there are people fighting a hopeless conflagration. Seemingly then, in this drawing Bruegel associates
hope with two forms of behavior; with those who take action,
and with those who pray. He gives us no indication of salvation; however, and hope becomes the last resort, the only thing
remaining to those who have nothing else.
The same note of pessimism appears in his Charity of the

same year (fig. 3), which Tolnay interprets as a disguised

castigation of hypocrisy.8 In describing the drawing, Tolnay
sees it as a representation of the "perverted world," in which

the poor are stripped naked and the starving fed bread as

hard as stones. He makes the additional points that the poor

man being buried does not merit a priest, and that the truly
cause.
needy prisoner behind the grated window, is ignored by those
III
who visit the prisoners on the loggia. It is possible to read too
Bruegel's drawings of the Seven Virtues, completed dur-much into this drawing; however, there is no doubt that it
shows Bruegel's consciousness of human misery, and it is posing 1559 and 1560, contain a number of clues to the major
sible
paintings that followed after them. There are a number of that the eagle, preening its feathers on the personification's head, is an expression of self-interest.
ambiguities about the Virtues, if they were intended to be

There is little doubt, however, about the meaning of his

seen as a series. In spite of their common format, in which a
representation of Justice in the same year (fig. 4), which crepersonification of the virtue appears close to the central foreground, and is surrounded presumably by scenes that exem-ates a gruesome precedent for Callot and Goya. The personification is blindfolded, and the sword is emphasized more than
plify her meaning, the examples given are not always positive.
In depicting Faith in 1559 (fig. 1),5 he seems to have in-the empty, but unbalanced, scales. Armed military forces stand
tended no hidden meanings, if we exempt a few minor detailsbehind her, hinting that this is her chief authority, that might
makes right. On the left an unimpassioned court mechanically
that show the inattentiveness of children, or a man dozing
drones the process of condemnation, ringed by informers and
during Mass. The personification of Faith supports the tablet
of the Ten Commandments and the Bible, and stands amongamused spectators, while the clerks drearily record the results.

POOR=

I.M

-'v
AL

Fig. 3. Pieter Bruegel, Charitas. Rotterdam, Boysman Museum.

Fig. 4. Pieter Bruegel, Justitia. Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale.

ART JOURNAL XXIII 4 284

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W-UN
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Fig. 5. Pieter Bruegel, Prudentia. Brussels, Musees Royaux

Beaux
Arts.Fortitudo. Rotterdam, Boysmans Museum.
Fig.des
6. Pieter
Bruegel,

Throughout the composition a dismal catalog

of punishments
anger,
peacock pride, the gluttonous swine, and the ava
toad who robs the
that is about to kill him. In the backis documented, while in the foreground a confession
is soldier
being
wrung from a poor unfortunate by the mostground,
stringent
means.
a well-organized armored cavalry charges to relieve a
Allowing even for the state of the times, when
such moated
practises
beleaguered
castle, some of whose defenders wear wings.
were common, this is a representation of perverted
justice
and behind protection of their cataThe army of
beasts retreat
perhaps a condemnation of the Inquisition. paults into a cavern and some sort of spherical structure. At
If the issues are clear-cut in the Justice, the
there
upperare
rightagain
one of the castle's defenders welcomes those

some questionable points in Bruegel's Prudence

of the
who approach
the same
drawbridge through a globe-like church.

year (fig. 5). The implements associated with

the
personificaThe
generalized
beasts that take part in this battle are quite
tion, the ladders that may mean lofty aspiration,
the
sieve
different
from
both,for
the symbolic beasts in the foreground of
separating wheat from chaff, and the coffinthis
that
prepares
picture,
and the for
composite symbols of vice that Bruegel
the inevitable, complicate the sense of this virtue,
hinting
at the works of Bosch. Anthropoid and
had imitated
earlier from
its paradoxical nature. Thus, although at thereptilian
left foreground
as they are, they represent an active, armed assault
provisions are being stored away for future use,
upon an
the other
garrison dwellthat is saved through the fortitude of its deing to the rear is being shored up after neglect
has
butmight of the relieving force. Tolnay
fenders and
the all
military

reduced it to a ruin. In the center of the points

picture,
manhas a contradiction, that it brings vioout thatone
this virtue
stores his gold in a chest, while another carries
itand
with
him
lence
action
into for
alignment with the other, more gentle
daily use. On the right, a dying man gives his
confession
a
virtues;
however, it to
is interesting
in the context of our dispriest, but a physician is there to attend to cussion,
his bodily
In military struggle against vice and
that he ills.
uses the
the right foreground, a woman with a rosary
cooks
with
a
heresy as
a way of
representing
this particular virtue, which is
caldron, but simultaneously quenches the extra
faggots
which
hardly flattering for some of his compatriots who are strughad been placed too close to the fire.
gling for the freedom of their beliefs.
The last two drawings of the series, Fortitude
and TemTemperance
(fig. 7), the last of the series, is seen by

perance, both dated 1560, are considered as humorous

expresTolnay as a satire
on the obscurity and folly of the Seven Libsions by Tolnay;9 however, if they are satirical,
the which
humor
isto negate the idea of the virtue. The
eral Arts,10
seems
more ambiguous than anything we have seen
so far in holds
the herself
sepersonification
in check with her own reins, carries. Fortitude (fig. 6), without doubt, contains
the seeds
of sight, stands under a regulatory clock,
ries spectacles
for clear
the Dulle Griet, which was painted a year orand
two
later,
and
places
one foot
on the arms of a windmill as if to stay its

which we shall soon discuss. Like the painting

was the
todialecticians all speak at once, there
motion. that
In contrast,

come, it shows armed combat between an incongruous

mixture
is a cacophonous
mingling of mismated musical sounds, and
of soldiers, women, a monk, familiar symbolic
and
in theanimals,
representation
of rhetoric as a theatrical performance,
some reptilian or apelike creatures. The personification
of the
Faith speaks to Hope
while Folly stands in the wings.
virtue is a winged female wearing a cuirass, supporting
Considered as the
a series, the Seven Virtues reveal many in-

pillar of strength and the anvil that is hardened

by
blows.
consistencies.
Faith,
Hope, Charity, and Fortitude, in spite of
She stands upon the head of the dragon of heresy,
holding
its
some doubtful
points,
give positive exemplifications of the
leash, and its tail is caught in a vise. To the virtues.
left soldiers,
andcontrasting, as well as positive, examPrudence offers
to the right, women and a monk, are completing
mop-up
opples; however,
Justice
and Temperance, both offer examples
erations against the disorganized beasts who are
not
participatthat are
contrary
to what one might expect. We can attribute
ing in the battle to the rear. This particularthis
group
of beasts
ambivalence
to either of two likely reasons; Bruegel had
includes animals that are symbolic of the vices;
the bear
of series in advance with a consistent view
not planned
the entire
285 Zupnick: Bruegel and the Revolt of the Netherlands

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IV

in mind, or he made unconscious references to thoughts that

were uppermost in his mind while making some of the drawings. We would tend to favor the latter possibility inasmuch
as Justice and Fortitude appear to reflect his ambivalence toward current happenings; condemning the militancy of the
heretics, but also condemning the harshness of the "justice"

Bruegel's paintings of 1561 and 1562 are best understood as culminations of the developments begun in the Seven
Virtues and the Christ in Limbo. In four major works during

this two year period,12 as if he were mindful of the growing

conflict, he depicted four representations of battle. In three of
these, The Fall of the Rebel Angels, the Dulle Griet, and the
that was meted out.
Suicide of Saul, there are moralistic implications that pride
Before we discuss the significance of the Dulle Griet, and vice can lead to defeat and destruction, while in the fourth,
there is one more drawing, Christ in Limbo, dated 1561 (fig. The Triumph of Death, there is the even more pessimistic
8) ,1 which contains motifs to be found in the painting. Here, implication that it is pointless to struggle against the inevitable.
Christ, surrounded by music-playing angels in an orbicular deThe Dulle Griet is an anomaly in this group (fig. 9),
vice, appears in almost the same place that we found the personifications of the virtues. A crowd of those who are saved,
particularly because of the usual interpretation placed upon
the subject matter. According to van Mander, the source of the
advances from the mouth of hell towards the orb, unaccountably beckoned forth by a helmeted beast. Through an opening interpretation, the subject is the story of Mad Margaret, a
in the broken "head" of hell, we can see the king of the place, kind of furious harridan, "who is stealing something to take
holding on his unsettled crown, while his minions scurry back
into the darkness. Behind the orb, a complex, factory-like processing of souls continues, timed by the ringing of a bell, and
powered, perhaps, by a sea-robin who peers over a lean-to roof.

to Hell, and who wears a vacant stare and is strangely

dressed." 13The modern interpretation, which takes a more ac-

curate note of what actually seems to be happening in the

painting, views it as an assault on, rather than a retreat to,

Above the boiling furnace, a monster in a wheeled helmet Hell. Mad Margaret, dominating the composition like one of
catches and stabs a fish, while below it, a limp man is tor- the personifications we have seen, attired in a helmet and a

cuirass like Fortitude's, advances with a sword held at the

mented by a lizard-like creature, as he hangs from a ladder.

ready. She has no interest in saving souls, but rather in addIn the foreground, some of the scurrying beasts destroy theming to the loot that she clutches so possessively in her gauntselves or topple over in their haste to escape. In the lower
leted hand. Behind her, a force of women beat down an army
right, an incongruous figure among many incongruities, an
of beasts who had defended a bridge, carrying off loot of
armored knight with a clam-shell helmet, scurries off with a
their
own. There is a counter-attack in the making, which admonstrous fish. The beasts are somewhat different from those
vances towards the bridge, in which the beasts seem to be reseen in the Fortitude of the preceding year, and quite differinforced by knights, and covered by the fire of the crossbowent from Bosch's composite assemblages. Although some of men who look down from towers and windows (fig. 10). To
them have familiar attributes, canine and anthropoidal, for
the right of the bridge, two monkeys lower a vase from their
instance, others are apocryphal, or are strange, invented mu- barred window like the prisoners in the drawing, Hope, while
tants of known animals. Since specific symbolic identification other beasts, not taking part in the fight, go about their busiis not likely, we are probably to interpret the meaning of these ness of tricking one another, or they scurry into the mouth of
beasts as a representation of a generally evil breed that includes Hell. In addition to the women, the knights, and the beasts,
an innumerable variety of mutants, all of whom are subjects of there are nude figures scattered through the composition such
the evil monarch within the diabolical cranium. The evil breed
as a couple on an island, one who is eaten by a sea monster,
is foolish, inept, and self-destructive, but, nevertheless, can one who holds a banner, and others who crawl towards a
craggy rock formation.

keep the souls of the unwary in torment.

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Fig. 7. Pieter Bruegel, Temperantia. Rotterdam, Boysmans Museum.

. . . . . --------

Fig. 8. Pieter Bruegel, Christ in Limbo. Vienna, Albertina.

ART JOURNAL XXIII 4 286

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Fig. 9. Pieter Bruegel, Dulle Griet. Antwerp, Musee Mayer van den Bergh.
......

The battle represented here, does not have the clear-cut

issues of the other three battle pictures we have mentioned.
The victory of the women does not make them into glorious
heroines, if their aim is merely to satisfy their greed. The

women's adversaries are a strange mixture of knights and

beasts who gather under a variety of different banners, and,

of course, there is nothing about them to gain our sympathies.
In contrast to the other three battle representations, there is

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an ambivalence about the outcome of the Dulle Griet and we

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cannot be certain about which side has the artist's sympathies.

Although there is no direct evidence for our supposition, it is
Fig.
conceivable that in this painting, as in the drawings of Justice
and Fortitude, Bruegel reflected the current situation in the
gen
Netherlands, even while dealing with the more general theme
not
heroines:
of Avarice. If this were the case, if the fairy tale atmosphereStrada's
is
merely a disguise for a hidden point of view, it would explain
"The truth is her spirit was not only great beyond her sex:
a great number of details in the painting. It might explain the but she went so habited, and had such a garb, as if she wer
strange alliance of knights and beasts as a reflection of the
not a woman with masculine spirit, but a man in womans clothes
union of the nobility with the religious dissidents among the .. . Nay upon her chin and upper lip she had a little kind of

proletariat, who in gathering under the different banners of beard, which gave her not more of the resemblance than author
ity of a man.'"
different causes,14 remained somewhat disorganized and disunited, but still able to cause trouble. It might explain whyIn addition, in a number of places in Strada's book, there ar
one of the counter-attackers who is toppling from the bridge,
descriptions of Netherlandish women in action, which agree
has a human head on a platter. This could, of course, be symwith Bruegel's depiction of the Dulle Griet's followers.'* The
bolic of John the Baptist, and may possibly refer to the Anawomen of "Delph," for example, were "undoubtedly po
sessed by the Devil," when, "as if they had been the snakebaptists. The skulking, enigmatic figure on the roof (fig. 11),
haired hags sent from Pluto," like "Bacchides," they attacke
who carries the ship of fools on his back, ladles out money to
corrupt and distract the attacking women. On the basis of his
the Franciscans. He explains this wickedness as "agreeable to

size, he seems to be Dulle Griet's chief adversary, and the

their mannish principles in mastering of their husbands."

ship's passengers, his council. In his attitude as a dissembler

and corrupter, he resembles the "sower" and "cunning" Wil-

liam of Nassau, Prince of Orange, who "learned in the vil- One last drawing, The Fall of the Magician (fig. 12), i

lanous school of Machiavel" how to turn the rebellion to good

a fitting supplement to this series of coincidences between
account;15 while Mad Margaret, herself, could refer to the
Bruegel's subject matter and current events. The drawing is
Regent of the Netherlands, Margaret of Parma, who attacks
dated 1564,s18 which is a significant year in that Fabritius (D
the forces of heresy as a cover for greed. Although official porSmet), a former Carmelite Bruger who had ministered to th
traits of Margaret of Parma by Antonio Moro, Frans Pourbus,
Reformed community in Antwerp, was burned at the stake
while the attack of his would-be rescuers was beaten back.'9
and others, bear no resemblance to Dulle Griet, that does not
nullify this possibility. We must allow for the flattering nature
Tolnay has pointed out, that in representing the victory of
of such portraiture, and for the fact that Bruegel would have
Saint James over the magician, Hermogenes, Bruegel revers
courted certain death if such seditious implications were made
the text of the Legenda Aurea in order to attack the Inquis
too clear. The resemblance between Dulle Griet and the Re-tion.20 According to the Legend, Saint James epitomizes Chri
287 Zupnick: Bruegel and the Revolt of the Netherlands

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0-:h

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Fig.

12.

Pieter

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The

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Fig. 11. Pieter Bruegel, Detail of Dulle Griet.

the

tian tolerance, since he prevents the spirits enthralled by

Hermogenes from exacting vengeance, and says to the magician, "Go free wherever you will, for it is not our custom to

convert anyone against his will." According to Tolnay, in

Bruegel's version, we have a religion of vengeance rather than
tolerance, and Saint James has given the demons freedom to
murder Hermogenes. The Magician, in falling, is revealed as
a believer who had a "Bible" on his chair, and not a heretic at
all. This interpretation of the Magician's sincerity is strengthened by other details that Tolnay has not pointed out. First of
all, the largest figure in the composition is neither of the pro-

tagonists, but a cowled man who is playing a "shell-game,"

obviously symbolizing that we cannot believe our own eyes,
that things are not quite what they seem. On the chart above
this figure, ostensibly illustrating a variety of tumbler's posi-

tions, two archers shoot at a hedgehog, which is how Saint

Sebastian's martyrdom is described in the same Legenda Aurea.

On a table in the lower right-hand corner, there is a beheaded
body with its head on a plate, a reference to the martyrdom of
John the Baptist, which also appears in the Dulle Griet. Mingled with the monsters of evil and heresy, and this is very important, there are all sorts of acrobats, puppeteers, and mountebanks, while a fool amuses two monkeys with the noise of his
drum. The shell-game is the clue to the drawing's meaning,
telling us that among the mountebanks and heretics who hid
his true worth because they were falsely associated with his
cause, a true believer could become a martyr, like Saint John
and Saint Sebastian before him. It is also a clue that the artist

has given us, to tell us that in any of his works, the true intent is not to be found upon the surface.

For a long time, politi

other, later Bruegel pain
Saint Paul of 1567 is sho
induced some scholars t
Duke of Alva's army cros
out Philip II's orders to c
plying that Bruegel hop
check to his ambitions.2

Numbering

at

Bet

references to the existin

tion of Christians is sho

invaded

by

Spanish

sol

gave up the political neu

interest to the contemp
the political situation cam
Bruegel, as van Mande

the last. He lived at a ti

expression of certain id

sociated with print-mak

for disseminating ideas,
a repressive government
ing vice, he seems to ha
own, hiding the object of
sels. It is hard to believe
between his subjects and
like others in his time, w
eral terms, could not hav
specific examples. If he
ness, it is understandabl
versal meanings in parti
ous; however, it does lit
fuse

to

acknowledge

thes

tive to the anguish of his compatriots. 0

The author, who has contributed other articles to ART JOUR

teaches history of art at Harpur College, Endicott, N.Y.

Baudelaire's articles "On the Essence of Laughter, and

General, On the Comic in the Plastic Arts," were first publish

Le Portefeuille in 1855, and Le Present in 1857, and are given in
in The Mirror of Art, Critical Studies by Charles Baudelaire, t

Jonathan Mayne, Garden City, N.Y., 1956, in which his references to

ART JOURNAL XXIII 4 288

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Bruegel are on pp. 189-190.

"1Tolnay, p. 75, points out that the date is by a different hand,

however, it is perfectly reasonable to accept its accuracy.

2Especially Leo van Puyvelde, La peinture flamande au siecle

de Bosch et Breughel, Paris, 1962, p. 94 ff. and Charles de Tolnay,
The Drawings of Pieter Bruegel, New York, n.d., p. 51.
'Carel van Mander, Dutch and Flemish Painters, Translation
from the Schilderboeck, transl. Constant van de Wall, New York,

12The Fall of the Rebel Angels and the Suicide of Saul are

both dated 1562, but use different systems of Roman numbers. The
date of the Dulle Griet is obscure, but seems to be 1562, while the

Triumph of Death has no date at all, but seems to belong to this

period because of its style. See F. Grossmann, Bruegel, The Paint-

1936, p. 156.

ings, London, n.d., pp. 191-194; and Puyvelde, op. cit., p. 81 ff,
which does not include the Triumph of Death among Bruegel's

4As recorded in Famianus Strada, De bello belgico, The His-

tory of the Low-Countrey Warres, Transl. Sir Robert Stapylton, London, 1650, p. 109 f.

works, and does not suggest its date in the discussion on p. 112.

was erased and a new signature and date added, but there seems to be
no reason to doubt the date or authorship of the drawing.
6 Bruegel's emphasis on the betrayal (the "Judas Money"), and
the crueler aspects of the Passion (including St. Peter's knife and the

13 van Mander, op. cit., p. 155. See also, Leo van Puyvelde,
Pieter Bruegel's "Dulle Griet," London, 1947, p. 3, which suggests
that the proper translation is that Dulle Griet "is stealing before
Hell" (not through or for as it often is translated).
"Strada records, op. cit., Book IV, 78, and V, 109, the in-

tent with simple representation, but that he felt it necessary to edi-

and uniforms.

'Tolnay, op. cit., p. 72, points out that the original signature

ear he had slashed off), show that the artist as usual, was not con-

credibly childish fondness of the conspirators for emblems, insignia,

torialize.

' Strada, II, 46; III, 70.

SOne unusual note is that in the confession that takes place in

the background, but emphasized by a juncture of a candle-snuffer and

"1Strada, I, 73.

the spear and sponge that lean against the ladder, the priest is
smiling. Is this a comment that tells us that the men of God are,

after all, human?

17 Strada, I, 12; V, 131-132.

8s Tolnay, op. cit., pp. 75-76.

19 Strada, op. cit., IV, 84, quotes Margaret of Parma's letter to

Philip II, which describes the execution and praises the executioner

whose quick thinking made certain that Fabritius would die.

20Tolnay, pp. 75-76.
' Grossmann, op. cit., p. 201.

s Tolnay, op. cit., ibid.

9 Tolnay, pp. 73-75.

o Tolnay, Ibid.

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