Brueghel Junior: Burnt umber and black eyes
Everyone enjoys a good punch-up now and again, as long as it’s somebody else who’s getting punched, and so it was in early-17th-century Belgium when Pieter Brueghel the Younger evidently sought to keep a family tradition alive by painting “The Peasants’ Brawl”. It was Pieter’s birthday on May 22 and we took him to the village fete for some fun.
Anthonis van Dyck’s portrait of the Younger Pieter
It’s believed the villagers got into a rumble over a card game during the local knees-up, perhaps a celebration of the kermesse of St George. The what? Not being a follower of the Brueghels, nor a European, nor a Christian liturgist, I had to look it up. Wikipedia asked whether I meant the bicycle race, the Canadian rock band, a cubist painting by Wyndham Lewis or the festival.
