T.J. Clark's book offers profound insights on Bruegels art, revealing the satire behind his depictions of paradise and damnation in an age of enforced orthodoxy, religious wars, and threats of burning hellfire. Clark's analysis of Bruegels' famous masterpieces, including "The Land of Cockaigne," highlights the irony and tenderness of his vision of heaven on earth.

Format: Hardback
Length: 96 pages
Publication date: 26 September 2024
Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd

‘Thames & Hudson’s new, affordable, covetable ‘Pocket Perspectives: beautifully illustrated essays by canonical writers Financial Times A Financial Times Book of the Year: T.J. Clark offers profound insights on Bruegels art, where we encounter a reality formed from wholly worldly materials, yet suspended between belief and disbelief. Renowned art historian T. J. Clark unveils the hidden depths of Bruegels the Elders work in this captivating analysis of some of the artists most famous masterpieces. Taking the medieval concept of Schlaraffenland, a whimsical dreamland of milk and honey, as his starting point, Clark reveals the satire behind Bruegels depictions of paradise and damnation. In an age marked by enforced orthodoxy, religious wars and threats of burning hellfire, Bruegel the Elder reflected on the powers as well as limitations of religion, deriding the sanctimonious and ridiculing the righteous. At the heart of this book stands Bruegels ironic yet highly tender picture of The Land of Cockaigne, where we encounter a vision not of heaven above, but on earth. A parody of paradise, Bruegels heaven is consumptive, empty, idle and irresponsible; made of wholly worldly materials, just on the precipice of possibility.

Thames & Hudson's New, Affordable, Covetable 'Pocket Perspectives: Beautifully Illustrated Essays by Canonical Writers

A Financial Times Book of the Year: T.J. Clark offers profound insights on Bruegels art, where we encounter a reality formed from wholly worldly materials, yet suspended between belief and disbelief. Renowned art historian T. J. Clark unveils the hidden depths of Bruegels the Elders work in this captivating analysis of some of the artists most famous masterpieces. Taking the medieval concept of Schlaraffenland, a whimsical dreamland of milk and honey, as his starting point, Clark reveals the satire behind Bruegels depictions of paradise and damnation. In an age marked by enforced orthodoxy, religious wars and threats of burning hellfire, Bruegel the Elder reflected on the powers as well as limitations of religion, deriding the sanctimonious and ridiculing the righteous. At the heart of this book stands Bruegels ironic yet highly tender picture of The Land of Cockaigne, where we encounter a vision not of heaven above, but on earth. A parody of paradise, Bruegels heaven is consumptive, empty, idle and irresponsible; made of wholly worldly materials, just on the precipice of possibility.

Weight: 200g
Dimension: 180 x 116 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780500028667