“Cripples”, Peter Brueghel the Elder – description of the painting

Description of the picture:

Cripples – Peter Brueghel the Elder. 1568. Oil on wood. 18×21

The Flemish painter Peter Brueghel the Elder in his own genre works more than once portrayed maimed. In the sixteenth century, cripples were a frequent occurrence on city streets and rural roads. The painter’s enthusiasm is associated not so much with their physical defects as with psychology and behavior that differ from the worldview and manners of healthy people. It is striking that the representatives of this social group of the population never became the subject of Brueghel’s drama and do not meet as characters in the proverbs illustrated by him.

Painting “Cripples” – the last great work of the artist, written a year before his death."