Pieter Bruegel and the Art of Laughter - AAAARG.ORG

120 making good cheer
figure 67. Pieter Aertsen, The Egg Dance, 1557. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
art, perhaps his counterpart in the left background of Aertsen’s Egg Dance
of 1557, now in Amsterdam (Fig. 67). 77 Bruegel’s audience would surely
have marveled how the artist painted him so that “Die honger ziet hem
wt den ogen,” that is, “hunger looks out of his eyes.” 78 It could also be
said of him as well as of his counterpart in the Kermis who is proªered, it
seems, a jug of beer (see Fig. 58), “If the bagpipe is not full, it does not
screech,” or perhaps, “The sack must be full if you want the old geezer
to play.” 79 In both sayings, of course, the sack or bagpipe refers both to
the rustic musical instrument and to the bagpiper’s empty belly.
Another stock figure revitalized by Bruegel is the amply proportioned
bride (Fig. 68). Although she sits enthroned in the middle ground, the
whole composition focuses on her. Both her crown and her long flowing
hair were traditional attributes of virginity; 80 equally traditional is the
cloth of honor behind, although in this case, the crown seems constructed
of paper and the simple, rustic cloth behind her is a‹xed by means of a
rake to a great stack of hay. Customary, too, most likely, is her statelyc pose,
hands folded and eyes demurely lowered, in contrast to the animated
woman on her left. The bride was expected to show a reserved demeanor