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Pieter Bruegel and the Art of Laughter - AAAARG.ORG

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132 griet <strong>and</strong> her sisters<br />

figure 75. Detail <strong>of</strong> Fig. 19.<br />

times in <strong>the</strong> plays <strong>of</strong> Shakespeare. 29 Several Ne<strong>the</strong>rl<strong>and</strong>ish proverbs current<br />

in <strong>Bruegel</strong>’s time mention <strong>the</strong> Devil’s mo<strong>the</strong>r: “To outrun <strong>the</strong> Devil<br />

<strong>and</strong> meet his mo<strong>the</strong>r” <strong>and</strong> “What <strong>the</strong> Devil cannot do, <strong>the</strong>re he sends his<br />

mo<strong>the</strong>r.” 30 She appears, as it happens, in a print by Israhel van Meckenem,<br />

The Virgin on Crescent Moon <strong>of</strong> 1502. 31 At <strong>the</strong> bottom <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> print,<br />

angels attack devils, accompanied by an inscription that says, in part,<br />

“Who defiled Adam besides me <strong>and</strong> my mo<strong>the</strong>r [matrem meam]?” 32 In this<br />

case, <strong>the</strong> Devil’s dam must be <strong>the</strong> voluptuous siren at bottom center,

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