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Lot Essay
This picture was erroneously catalogued by Briels (loc. cit.) as a work by Jacob Saverij, an attribution followed only hesitantly by Ertz in his monograph on Pieter Brueghel II, on the basis of the old photograph in the former's publication. Wied (loc. cit) had, however, reaffirmed the attribution to Valckenborch, and noted that the church in the left distance is the same as that in the Village kermesse by Valckenborch in the Schlossmuseum, Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha.
The theme of the Blind leading the Blind was well known in Netherlandish art, and derives from Matthew, XV: 13-4, in which Christ, having been told that he had angered the Pharisees by criticising their spiritual leadership, replied : 'Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.'
Hieronymous Bosch painted the earliest known treatment of the theme, in a work known only through a later engraving by Pieter van der Heyden, published by Hieronymous Cock (see P. Lafond, Hieronymous Bosch. Son art, son influence, et ses disciples, Brussels and Paris, 1914, illustrated opposite p. 94). It was taken up again in the engraving by Cornelis Massys of circa 1540, showing four figures rather than Bosch's two, before being again depicted by Van der Heyden and Cock in 1561. The most famous representation, that of Pieter Bruegel the Elder of 1568 (Naples, Museo Nazionale), may well have been inspired by Van der Heyden's renditions of the theme. The subject subsequently entered into the general vocabulary of Flemish art, being treated by such artists as Pieter Brueghel II and Marten van Valckenborch.
The present work adds a new element to the familiar subject. Most early depictions include a fairly prominent church in the background, as if to elucidate the underlying meaning. Valckenborch follows that tradition, and adds a procession heading towards the church, lead by a white-robed priest; before them, however, he adds other villagers at a kermesse. Through this new device, the artist effects a subtle contraposition between the actions of the two groups of villagers - secular and religious - and the spiritual perils implied by the physical calamity of the foregound parable.
The theme of the Blind leading the Blind was well known in Netherlandish art, and derives from Matthew, XV: 13-4, in which Christ, having been told that he had angered the Pharisees by criticising their spiritual leadership, replied : 'Every plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.'
Hieronymous Bosch painted the earliest known treatment of the theme, in a work known only through a later engraving by Pieter van der Heyden, published by Hieronymous Cock (see P. Lafond, Hieronymous Bosch. Son art, son influence, et ses disciples, Brussels and Paris, 1914, illustrated opposite p. 94). It was taken up again in the engraving by Cornelis Massys of circa 1540, showing four figures rather than Bosch's two, before being again depicted by Van der Heyden and Cock in 1561. The most famous representation, that of Pieter Bruegel the Elder of 1568 (Naples, Museo Nazionale), may well have been inspired by Van der Heyden's renditions of the theme. The subject subsequently entered into the general vocabulary of Flemish art, being treated by such artists as Pieter Brueghel II and Marten van Valckenborch.
The present work adds a new element to the familiar subject. Most early depictions include a fairly prominent church in the background, as if to elucidate the underlying meaning. Valckenborch follows that tradition, and adds a procession heading towards the church, lead by a white-robed priest; before them, however, he adds other villagers at a kermesse. Through this new device, the artist effects a subtle contraposition between the actions of the two groups of villagers - secular and religious - and the spiritual perils implied by the physical calamity of the foregound parable.