Focus on Battle Between Carnival and Lent and explain the Description.
This painting is based on the mock battles that occurred as the revelry of Carnival gave way to Lenten abstinence. The peasants on the side of Carnival are armed with beer tankards, cooking implements, and sausage, while the monks and priests who stand for Lent brandish dried codfish. This comic scene is both a condemnation of the immorality that had come to mark many Roman Catholic feasts, and a subtler commentary about the struggle between the Protestant Dutch Republic and the Catholic Southern Netherlands, which were subjugated by Spain. This critique is clearest in the soldier choking a Dutch boy in the foreground. Although the figures are all very engaging and animated, their imperfect anatomy marks this as one of Molenaer's earlier efforts.
Southern Netherlands tankard Roman Catholic Dutch Dutch Republic codfish Spain Carnival sausage Protestant Netherlands Lent