'THE CENSUS AT BETHLEHEM'

FOREWORD

At first glance, a number of remarkable things catch the eye in The Census of Bethlehem, a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. However, the disordered feel of the scene does not hinder the viewer's interpretation. This rich and diverse picture seduces onlookers with its scale and the balance of colours and composition.

The eye lingers first of all on the vast snowy expanse where everyone is going about their work. The viewer's curiosity is then caught by the different overlapping scenes which surround the main subject and give the piece its title, The Census at Bethlehem. Is this biblical subject not, however, just a pretext? As often happens with the Flemish master, are there not several possible interpretations?

CHAPTER 1. Composition

The point of view, as is often the case with Bruegel, is higher than the scene itself. Like the man leaning around the shutter in the foreground, the artist seems to be observing the village from some place higher up. Like Bruegel, the viewer's eye is drawn to the horizon where the sun is rising.

The Christmas vigil will start in a few hours. People busy themselves, rapt in their own lives.

Further afield, carts are being loaded with sacks of grain and people warm themselves by the fire.

Here, chickens peck and birds soar while the donkey obediently follows his master.

Nothing is still, except perhaps the man with his back turned, hands in pockets, watching the sun. A light trace of snow, left on his shoulder by a snowball, nevertheless makes him part of the surrounding bustle.

Each detail and each group could be a separate work of art. The movements of the silhouetted characters are crafted with precision, be they the children immersed in a snowball fight...

....the man tying his skates on the edge of the river...

...or a mother pulling her child by the hand into the inn.

Even the smallest of details are alive with surprising authenticity.

This is particularly the case for this child who, arms stretched out, is scaring away birds in front of the castle in ruins.

In his Treatise on Landscape Painting, published in 1939, painter and art theorist André Lhote, already formulated this idea about the Flemish master's landscapes.

"You can use a mount of any format you like to cover parts of this extraordinary painting: it will always appear composed. Each element is set out in such a way that, together with the adjacent element, it constitutes a scintillating composition [...] These seemingly scattered elements could not be more ordered [...]. But this uncanny science is hidden by the work's engaging nature [...]. The public does not pay attention to hidden forces"
(by André Lhote, Treatise on Landscape Painting, 1939).

CHAPTER 2. Mastery of colour and materials

The composition's balanced appearance is strengthened by harmonious colour distribution. While ocres, whites and grey-greens dominate, splashes of red on clothing or a hat catch the eye from time to time.

While everything in the painting feels controlled, we are nevertheless far from the rigorous construction which dominates Italian art from the same time period. Bruegel presents his own, more intuitive arrangement.

In other places, whilst the layers are very thin, Bruegel plays with them to obtain stunning nuances, particularly of the white shades. Bruegel is a master of depicting snowy surfaces and winter skies.

CHAPTER 3. Iconography: between a biblical scene, daily life and a political interpretation

Anxious to depict the life of his contemporaries in its daily reality, Bruegel appears to be an inside observer of all the trivial aspects of living. This work offers a rich inventory of popular clothing, childrens' games and pastimes, utensils and tools. Numerous objects from daily life are represented in minute detail.

From the brick house with its crow-stepped gables to the cob walls, from the mens' trousers and chasubles to the womens' aprons and bonnets, from carts to the barge on the river, from the jug to the wicker basket, Bruegel's work offers us a window into the lives of our ancestors.

Several details are really quite strange. Such as this tavern in the hollow of a tree with a sign above saying "In De Swaen". This type of establishment also reminds us of the dens of debauchery often featured in Bruegel's etchings, inspired by the oeuvre of the famous Hieronymus Bosch.

The representations of daily scenes at a precise time of the year, in this case the night before Christmas, is a reference to the illustrated Books of Hours, famous from the Middle Ages onwards.

In these manuscripts, each month is abundantly illustrated by seasonal tasks: harvesting, pruning trees, taking the cattle in for winter, etc.

While all the characters in this village scene go about their business unaware of the viewer's gaze, a bull in the foreground seems to examine us curiously. His round eye captures the attention. We also become aware of the presence of two characters at the animal's side.

The bull is accompanying a carpenter and a woman sitting on the back of a donkey, wrapped in a large blue cape. It is not difficult to identify these two figures as Joseph and Mary who, upon the orders of Cesar Augustus, were travelling to Bethlehem to register in the census of the Roman Empire.
However, the scene does not take place in ancient Judea, Bruegel sets the scene in his native 16th century Low Countries.

By burying the biblical scene in the hustle and bustle of the village, like an anecdotal detail, Bruegel encourages us to reinterpret the activity taking place near the inn.

The scene taking place in front of the inn is, in fact, a financial transaction. A person is giving his money, probably to a tax collector, while another collector fills out a register.
Overhanging the scene is another element which supports the theory that it depicts an official gathering: a red cupboard with the Habsburg coat of arms hanging on the front of the inn.

CHAPTER 4. The original and its copies

The Census at Bethlehem has a remarkable longevity and, due to its success, was copied many times. There are 13 known copies to date, of which three are signed and dated by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium hold a version which allows to make a comparison between the two artists' work. The two versions are separated by 44 years.

A comparative study between the original and the copies helps us to learn more about Pieter Bruegel the Elder's working methods and observe differences, particularly regarding the paint layers and the underlying sketch.

Father and son often differ in their choice of colours, for example in the clothes people are wearing.

However, certain details which are not visible on the paint layer but only on the underlying sketches of Pieter Bruegel the Elder are visible in his son's work.

The most striking difference is the absence of one of the foreground scenes: a man tying his skates near to a cask with a bird perched on top. This missing detail leaves a gap in the son's composition. When we see the precision with which Brueghel the Younger copies his father, it seems unlikely that this missing detail was merely forgotten.

These differences lead us to think that Brueghel the Younger did not have access to his father's original works. Bruegel's paintings, which were already very popular in his lifetime, were sold on the market very quickly to enrich prestigious private collections.

This would explain why certain details were misinterpreted by his son who, for example, depicts the wheel in the centre of the composition as a sack of grain.

In order to paint such copies, Pieter Brueghel the Younger probably had to start with preparatory sketches or scale prints saved by his grandmother, the miniaturist Mayken Verhulst. Unfortunately, none of these drawings are known to us today.