In Conversion of Paul (Bruegel), how is the Details of the Description elucidated?
This work was acquired by Archduke Ernest of Austria in 1594, subsequently passing into the imperial collections with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor. Some critics have suggested that the scene depicted by Bruegel refers to contemporaneous events, especially the crossing of the Alps by Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba in 1567, as he was marching into the Netherlands at the head of an army of 10,000 men to sedate the Dutch revolts.More probably, Bruegel's depiction of Paul's conversion taking place high up on a pine-clad mountain pass may have been suggested by an engraving of 1509 by Lucas van Leyden. As in The Procession to Calvary and the Preaching of John the Baptist, Bruegel places the principal figures in the middle distance, almost lost amongst a mass of small figures and behind the eye-catching foreground soldiers and horsemen, who are incidental to the telling of the story. This is a familiar mannerist device which is intended to tease the spectator and draw his eye deep into the picture space in search of the principal subject.
Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor Archduke Ernest of Austria Bruegel The Procession to Calvary mannerist Lucas van Leyden Netherlands Alps Paul's conversion