In the Sign of Fortuna

The ubiquity of death in times of need is a fundamental experience of the age. The Book of Revelation invokes the apocalypse and the Day of Judgment. The hour of the last judgment has struck. From his pallid steed, Death mows down his horrified victims with his scythe. No estate is spared, neither emperor nor cardinal, neither knight nor peasant: all are surprised by Death.

Brueghel mercilessly depicts the omnipotence of death, whose hordes drive a tormented humanity into a trap. References to this are the cart with the dead and the burning town of hell populated by demons in the centre of the picture. The historical background of the painting is a conflict of faith: Spain’s brutal war against the Netherlands, which is striving for religious freedom. The dispute culminates in endless affliction and devastation. There is no sign of hope and redemption in this painting, Death alone is the victor.

War is a defining feature of the age. Many conflicts drag on for decades. Times of peace are often little more than ceasefires. Although most wars are fought under the pretext of religion, they are in reality about power and dominance: Catholics fight Protestants, and the great powers for domination in Europe. Deep cracks run through the continent. As Spain’s star wanes, France’s power increases. Holland and England become big players in world trade.

Brute force determines the lives of most people, defenceless citizens, peasants and simple soldiers are all affected. Victims become perpetrators, perpetrators become victims. All of them are merely pieces on the chessboard of politics. The old draft militias are replaced by standing armies, organisations that require a lot of logistics and cost huge sums.

Technology of weapons becomes the high tech of its time. A new discipline emerges: “war science”, which constitutes an important part of royal education.

Scarcely any other thought shapes the era as much as knowledge about the transience of all things on earth. Baroque art and literature are full of allusions to the finiteness of all things, to vanitas. Still life paintings contain numerous symbols which admonishingly refer to the frailty of man. Endless war which causes nothing but death and devastation constantly confirms this insight and is a fundamental experience of the era.

Nothing on earth endures, neither the power of the Emperor nor the knowledge of scholars.

In the visual language of the Renaissance, man’s path through life is mainly shaped by hardship and becomes a formula in which heroic exaggeration replaces reality. At a youthful age man leaves the security of the parental home with a slight burden. As an adult, however, man buckles under the burden of life. Chronos, the personification of time, forces him down. Only hope with the anchor and patience with the lamb sustain him. Here, the end of life is redemption from earthly hardship. The old man receives the embodiment of age, accompanied by winged death.

Despite all difficulties and dangers many people of the early modern period voluntarily embark on their journeys, others are compelled to a life on the road for reasons of poverty. They are called vagrants, beggars or travelling people. This army of the poor live, despised and vilified, at the margins of society. All of them are forced into a miserable life that more or less inevitably drives them into illegality. These outcasts form a kind of parallel society which fascinates many artists. Jakob Franz Zipper, a native of Feldkirch in Vorarlberg, spent most of his life in Milan as Giacomo Francesco Cipper. He knew how to assert himself successfully on the market with his numerous depictions of the lives of the lower classes and fringe groups.

In this painting he shows a family of scissors grinders which has set up a mobile workshop at the roadside. At the same time, however, they are reviled as fraudsters, trying to cheat the somewhat naive-looking peasant lad in the background: he is having his future read from the palm of his hand and will probably go on to buy one of the fake remedies which are touted with grand theatricality.

Then as now, those at the top and bottom are a theme of the times. But the past knows neither the welfare state nor legal protection.

Ethnic groups known as “gypsies” constantly live on the margins. They have no fixed abode and are also called “travellers”. They are considered untrustworthy fellows lacking morals. Constantly vilified as fraudsters, they are outside the law. But the outcasts of the Baroque fascinate the art of its time, which, however, always places them in the sphere of the disreputable and casts them in a literally poor light. Those naively going anywhere near them quickly become victims such as a peasant lad buying questionable love potions or a young dandy who is distracted by a fortune teller, while his purse is being stolen from him.

There is also another side to the countenance of the era. It is marked by splendour, the enjoyment of life and a grandiose festive culture.

Leisure is an invention of the upper classes whose livelihood does not depend on the need to work. The most popular pastime of the nobility is hunting. Not only deer and game, but also the animals' habitat, woodland and meadows are owned by dynasty and nobility. Hunting parties can often last days at a time but are not just about pleasure. They also train important physical skills such as the use of weapons and endurance in pursuit, all of which are practice in the inherited art of warfare.

But the upper class does not live solely for war. In addition to the old role of fighter, the new role of the patron has emerged. Noble residences are often the scene of intensive cultivation of art. Hence, the artist’s talent is always at the service of his patron.

Those promoting the arts ensure that their memory lives on. But this only works in times of peace: Inter arma silent musae – When guns speak, the arts fall silent. Beginning with the late Renaissance, the whole of Europe witnesses the emergence of the first art academies as royal foundations. In such places, art is cultivated as a practical science, painters and sculptors are trained in accordance with methods. The artist can prove his genius here, while his patron can demonstrate his generosity and education.

Painting is now on equal footing with poetry, in keeping with the idea of the Roman poet Horace: Ut pictura poesis – as is painting so is poetry. This requires not only inspiration and knowledge, but also careful practical training. The cultivation of art becomes a public matter. An art market begins to emerge and with it, lively competition. In addition a new power arises: the critique of art by connoisseurs.

Away from the royal courts, common people develop their own culture, which despite all the constraints allows full development of the joy of life. Harvest-time, weddings and church festivals offer a plethora of occasions. Otherwise, hard work defines the lives of the farmers, in addition to total dependence on the landlord. Rural life is integrated into the course of nature: The sequence of the seasons sets the rhythm of the work, always threatened by dangers such as crop failure, despotism and war.

In addition to work, exuberant celebrations shape rural life. Countless printed and painted representations testify to this but are intended for the eyes of the derisive townsman. For him peasants are uncultured and immoral, almost animals, who indulge in their vices such as lust, gluttony and drink. So, too, the Brueghel family’s depictions of peasants are only cheerful and harmless at first glance. In truth, colourful village life stands for the foolish world. The true ruler is the fool whom the children follow. They stand for the seducible nature of man.

The era dreams of the ideal of a well-ordered world, of the harmonious interaction of all walks of life. A symbol of this is well cultivated land which produces rich harvests, a counter-image to the reality determined by hunger. Man is integrated into the annual cycle of nature. The shining sun ensures the growth of crops, the universally feared crop failures seem remote. Daily work is done by dependent farmers. Their life is entirely in the hands of the landlord, whose castle conspicuously towers above the fields.

The sun god Apollo is at the same time a protector of culture and the arts. This is what the lyre stands for, his classical attribute. The painting was likely part of a cycle of allegories, which depicted the months, times of day or seasons.

The roles of all social classes are enshrined in the ideal society of the early modern period. Regents and the Church expect obedient subjects. Ideal behaviour is taught and preached, art depicts virtuous heroes as role models. Ancient and religious tradition serve as important models. Bold action, selfless devotion and steadfast endurance characterise the heroes from antiquity and the Bible, but also the 'good' subject who submits to the will of the highest authority.

Young David is the epitome of the biblical hero. Barely armed, he defeats the vastly superior Goliath. David’s victory combines courage and cunning in exemplary fashion. His achievement elevates him to a leading figure who transcends time. Despite wrongdoings, he is considered a virtuous hero par excellence.

Not only heroic deeds, but also snug pleasure offer a refuge in times of distress. This is what Silenus, a follower of the wine god Bacchus, stands for, stout, in merry mood and always devoted to drunkenness, a mythical counter-image in a hunger-stricken time. What seems blasphemous at first glance, is in truth an expression of serenity and wisdom. Silenus is the teacher of Bacchus and helps the Gods fend off the Titans’ menacing attack.

The art of the age, always mindful of moral admonition, discovers the joy of earthly existence in the figure of Silenus. Those who enjoy are good-tempered and peaceful. He is immune from the dangers and vices under which the century incessantly suffers: pride and anger, from which deadly conflicts grow.