Kunsthistorisches Museu Viena
Óleo sobre painel - 118x164,5 - 1559
A Luta entre Carnaval e Quaresma é uma obra pintada por Pieter Bruegel, o Velho em
1559. Esta pintura descreve um festival comum do período, como comemorado
nos Países Baixos do Sul. Ela
apresenta o contraste entre os dois lados da vida contemporânea, como pode ser
visto pelo aparecimento da pousada do lado esquerdo - para o gozo, e a igreja
do lado direito - para a observância religiosa.
A cena movimentada retrata crianças bem
comportadas perto da igreja e uma cena de pessoas bebendo cerveja perto da pousada. No centro há um poço, mostrando
a aproximação de diferentes partes da comunidade e outras cenas mostram uma
barraca de peixes. A pintura é parte da coleção no museu de Kunsthistorisches em Viena, Áustria.
The Fight Between Carnival and Lent is an oil-on-panel work painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in
1559. This painting depicts a common festival of the period, as celebrated in
the Southern Netherlands. It
presents the contrast between two sides of contemporary life, as can be seen by
the appearance of the inn on the left side—for enjoyment, and the church on the
right side—for religious observance.
The busy scene depicts well-behaved children
near the church and a beer drinking scene near the inn. At the centre is
a well, showing the coming together of different parts of the
community, and other scenes show a fish stall and two competing floats.
A battle
enacted between the figures Carnival and Lent was
an important event in community life in early modern Europe, representing the
transition between two different seasonal cuisines: livestock that was not to
be wintered was slaughtered, and meat was in good supply. As the period of
Lent commenced, with its enforced abstinence and the concomitant spiritual
purification in preparation for Easter, the butcher shops closed and the butchers traveled
into the countryside to purchase cattle for the spring.
Bruegel's painting is rich in allegories and
symbolisms that have been long studied. It is often read as the triumph of
Lent, since the figure of Carnival seems to bid farewell with his left hand and
his eyes lifted to the sky. A more generalised meaning may be the illustration
of Bruegel's belief that human activities are motivated by folly and
self-seeking.
The painting
defies any linear narrative, but one may divide it into two sections: the
popular and the religious. The scene is set in a town's market square (a
traditional setting for the Carnival), with the figure of Carnival personified
by a fat man who led a procession through the town and presided over a large
feast. In some traditions an effigy of the Carnival figure was burned at the end of
the celebrations.
In Bruegel's painting the figure is a large
man riding a beer barrel with a pork chop attached to its front end. He is
wearing a huge meat pie as a headdress; he is wielding a long spit, complete with a pig's head, as a weapon for the fight.
The pouch of knives at his belt indicates that he is a butcher—the guild of
butchers traditionally provided the meat for the carnival feast so his place at
the procession's heart is apt. The man behind the barrel is dressed in
yellow, which is connected with deceit, and he is followed by a female figure
who is carrying on her head a table with bread and waffles on it. In one hand
she holds a tumbler and in the other a candle, again allegorical symbols for
deceit.
Beside her is a lute-player, which was
a frequent symbol of Lutheranism. The Lutherans had
abolished Lent but still celebrated the Carnival. A tavern
filled with drinkers and onlookers watch the performance of a popular farce
known as The Dirty Bride.
At the street crossing a group of cripples have come out to beg, while behind
them, led by a bagpiper, a procession of lepers walks
past.
Lent's half of the picture is dominated by
abstinence and piety, with people drawing water from the well, giving alms to
the poor and the sick, and going to church. The church itself is the dominant
building from which queues of black figures emerge from their prayers. Lady
Lent in the foreground, garbed like a nun, is sitting on a cart drawn by a monk
and a nun, and looks gaunt and thin, with her followers feeding on bread and
biscuits. Lady Lent's wagon contains traditional Lenten foods, pretzels, waffles, and mussels. Just inside the entrance to the church a veiled
statue is visible—it was customary in Roman Catholic churches to cover up all
works of art at Lent until Easter Sunday when the carved and painted figures of
saints would be unveiled once more, "brought back to life like the Saviour
himself." In Bruegel's time, when the Protestant Reformation was
surging, many of the old customs were under threat. The Roman Catholic
attachment to Lenten rites was heavily criticised by the Protestant reformers
and the spirit of carnival was viewed with suspicion on both sides of the
religious divide.
The background is dominated by people working,
primarily with food: women preparing Lenten fish, men carrying wine from the
inn and a woman making waffles. At the very back of the picture, other
festivities are going on with a bonfire, dancing figures and beggars spread across
the whole scenery. Bruegel produced this painting from a bird's eye view, as if
he wished to stay out of any polemic of the time, but he was in the habit of
placing a symbolic detail in the middle of the picture, and in this case it is
a married couple with their backs to the viewer, guided by a fool with a
burning torch. Many critics have identified this couple as a symbol for
the common masses.
The man carries a strange bulge under his
clothes, giving the impression of a hunchback or a hidden sack. This is
associated with the allegorical figure of Egotism, who was usually represented as carrying a sack on his
back, this meaning to express man's own faults and weaknesses. It is often read
as how the masses caused intolerance towards dissenters because of their
inability to think objectively.
The woman's main characteristic is the unlit
lantern hanging by her belt. She is guided by a fool, and not by reason. The
burning torch the latter carries is also symbolic of dispute and destruction.
Beside the trio is a rooting pig, also connoting damage and destruction.
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