"A moving, disturbing, unforgettable work, The Procession to Calvary hangs in Nostell Priory in Yorkshire, but its owner, Lord St Oswald, has decided to put it on the market. The National Trust and the Art Fund are campaigning to raise £2.7m to buy the work and keep it in Britain and on public view. So far, £800,000 has been raised, but the deadline is Christmas. Is it worth it? Yes."
And here are 10 things to look out for...
1. Not exactly Jerusalem: the scene depicts not some faraway biblical city but a familiar place to Brueghel’s contemporaries: Brussels or Antwerp
2. Every detail a little miracle: The superbly observed little details are the essence of the Brueghel style.
3. Unmoved bystanders: We are made to feel included as one of the painting’s casual bystanders but are we as unmoved by Christ’s suffering?
4. Beauty framing violence: Despite the painting’s horrific narrative it is set within a beautifully mapped landscape.
5. The Colourless Christ: Christ is not the centre of attention here – he is part of a sprawling human canvas.
6. Gleaming sentinels of death: The sinister contemporary military figures guide our eyes to the place of execution on the hill.
7. The Doomed as Spectacle: Brueghel deliberately sets out to shock by depicting the transportation of the thieves as a spectacle.
8. Rural Boredom: With the depiction of two children on the hillside, Brueghel shows how this terrible event could provide a moment of relief from daily rural poverty and boredom.
9. Hill of Gallows: In depicting the execution site with gallows and gibbets, Brueghel draws parallels with contemporary public executions held outside the city gates.
10. All-embracing vision: British public collections own few Brueghels – in particular we are lacking examples of great epic works such as this.
Read the full article and donate to the campaign.
Read the full article and donate to the campaign.
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