Carnival, known in the United States as Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), had its origins in 400 CE with Pscyhomachia (Battle of Spirits/Soul War) written by the Latin poet Prednetius. The observation of the battle between good and evil became known as Carnival in Medieval Europe with parades and excesses that ended on Ash Wednesday when the forty-day period of fasting, or Lent began. Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525/30–1569) (Antwerp, Belgium) was first to depict the subject in “The Battle Between Carnival and Lent” (1559) (46.4” x 64.5”) (oil on oak panel). This painting is an encyclopedia of the Flemish people’s celebration of Carnival. At that time, Brueghel created a series of Flemish genre paintings “Netherlandish Proverbs” (1559) (800 proverbs) and “Children’s Games” (1560) (200 games) that were large landscapes containing hundreds of individual scenes.
There are over 200 different images in “The Battle Between Carnival and Lent.” The setting is a typical Flemish town square where all the economic and social life occurred. From the left and extending toward the center is a tavern with large kegs of beer set in front. Behind in the square are several shops crowded with people celebrating. Among the many activities depicted are actors performing The Dirty Bride, a man in blue playing bagpipes, others playing improvised instruments, a circle dance, a bakery with loaves displayed on a shelf, a woman on a ladder washing windows, a woman making waffles, fish being fried, children playing games, and cripples and beggars. The town well is at the center.
A stone Romanesque church occupies the right side of the square. A group of people exit the side door, some carrying stools they brought to sit on during the church service. Two people kneel and pray outside the church wall. The wealthier church members leave by the front door, and some give alms to the waiting poor. A view into the church shows white cloths covering the statues that will be revealed on Easter Day. Women sell votive offerings at the door of the church. Some of the women carry boxwood branches, the northern equivalent of palms on Palm Sunday.
Carnival is a rotund butcher straddling a beer barrel with a pork chop stuck on the front. He is being pulled on a sled by two figures, one carrying a massive beer stein, and the other waving a white, gold and red flag, the colors of Carnival. Carnival wears a pie as a hat, has his foot in a cooking pot, and a pouch of knives at his waist. He jousts with Lent using a rotisserie spit holding a pig’s head, poultry and sausages. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, people in the parade are dressed in costumes. A variety of creative hats can be seen. Musical instruments, playing cards, and broken eggs are scattered on the ground. A man in white with a tri-color pointed hat wears a chain of pilgrimage badges around his chest. A woman holds a candle, and on her head, she wears a table that is loaded with a variety of Lenten pastries.
Lent is an emaciated woman who wears a beehive as a hat. Bees were a symbol for the church in many time periods and are frequently spoken of in the Bible. For example, bees are industrious, have an integrated social system, the sweetness of their honey references forgiveness, and their wax is used in making candles. Lent sits on a three-legged stool symbolic of the Trinity. Pretzels, breads, and a bowl of mussels are among the items on her sled. Her wooden jousting paddle displays two herring, a reminder to eat fish on Friday. A monk and a nun pull her cart. Children with ashes on their foreheads accompany her.
Neither of the jousters engage, but pass each other by. Brueghel did not select a winner of the joust. However, the landscape behind Carnival depicts winter trees on a hill, and behind the church budding trees can be seen.
Brueghel’s painting was so popular that 18 copies still exist, at least five of them painted by his son Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
James Ensor’s (1860-1949) (Ostend, Belgium) depiction of “Christ’s Entry into Brussels” (1888/89) (99.5’’ x 169.5’’) was rejected for exhibition by the Avant Garde group Les XX (The Twenty). He had been a member since 1883, but the painting was determined to be so scandalous that he was expelled from the group. It was finally exhibited to the public in 1929. As a result of the painting’s success, King Albert of Belgium made Ensor a Baron. This painting is Ensor’s most famous work.
Ensor left school at 15 to train as an artist; by the age of 20 he was considered a master. However, when his work was rejected by the Belgian Royal Academie of Art, he joined the Les XX, only to be rejected in 1889. Ensor was 28, his work was severely criticized, and he became cynical and reclusive. When “Christ’s Entry into Brussels” was exhibited in 1929, the world had undergone World War I, and was in the midst of the Great Depression. His insightful painting seemed to forecast the future, and the new groups of artists, Cubists, Fauves, and Surrealists among them, were firmly established, and they considered other Ensor paintings as major influences on their art.
“Christ’s Entry into Brussels” displays Ensor’s crude brush work, garish colors, and aggressive approach to the subject. A bishop is the largest figure and dominates the first row of Carnival participants. Dressed in bright orange-red, he wears a gold pointed Bishop’s mitre and carries his black crozier upside down, a comment on the church and the world. He has participated in the indulgence of drink, if his very red nose is any indication. He leads the procession like a drum-major toward the viewer.
The bishop is surrounded by costumed figures wearing a variety of masks. Ensor’s mother ran a shop that made papier-mâché carnival masks. He grew up around masks, and they played an important part in many of his paintings. To Ensor the mask became a reference to the real nature of the individual: angry, greedy, jealous, insincere, mean, filled with hate, and paranoid. A person’s real face was the mask of normalcy worn to disguise his/her true nature. The people depicted are commoners, priests, government officials, soldiers, and those who deceive the unsuspecting and the innocent.
Prominent among the masked figures is a skeleton with the bright green band around his top hat. Ensor frequently includes the skeleton mask in his paintings. It is a prominent reminder that death is always present. A skull, emptying hourglass, and sputtering candles are common details in still-lives and were called ‘memento mori.’ Ensor paintings often depict normal human activities, but with a macabre twist. Masked and skeletal figures engage in these activities.
On either side of the composition are viewing stands and balconies. The mayor dressed in blue with a white banner, accompanied by several clowns, looks down from the viewing stand. Banners and flags abound. The large red banner placed across the top of the painting reads “Vive la sociale” (Long live the social revolution). Ensor was a supporter of social reform, and he criticized Belgium’s powerful conservative institutions. Both reformers and conservatives are well represented here, but Ensor does not seem to emphasize one over the other. However, he does depict humans as grotesque and superficial. Masks are a way to hide intentions.
Ensor finally presents the figure of Christ riding on a donkey midway into the composition and behind the marching band. Although Christ wears a red robe and has a large gold halo, he is almost lost in the massive Carnival crowd. Brueghel and Ensor share a common trait in their paintings. It is often difficult to locate the main subject of the painting in their loaded compositions. Brueghel was a religious man. Ensor’s beliefs were not as certain. However, both seem to have realized that so much goes on in daily life that what is important is often missed or misinterpreted. It is easy to understand why this painting was better understood and publicly praised 40 years later in 1929, when Ensor first publicly showed this painting. It has continued to be a significant and compelling work of art.
Carnival remains an important tradition in Belgium, and the Binche and Aalst carnivals are UNESCO World Heritage sites. Of course, Brazil and New Orleans are also famous for Mardi Gras.
Laisez le Bon Temps Rouler!
Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown six years ago, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and Chesapeake College’s Institute for Adult Learning. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.
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