FOLLOWER OF PIETER BRUEGHEL THE YOUNGER

The theme of the Blind leading the Blind derives from Matthew, XV: 13-4, in which Christ, told that he had angered the Pharisees by criticising their spiritual leadership, replied : 'Let them alone: they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.' Hieronymous Bosch painted the earliest known treatment of the theme, in a work known only through a later engraving by Pieter van der Heyden, published by Hieronymous Cock (see P. Lafond, Hieronymous Bosch. Son art, son influence, et ses disciples, Brussels and Paris, 1914, p. 94). It was taken up again in an engraving by Cornelis Massys of circa 1540, showing four figures rather than Bosch's two, before being again depicted by Van der Heyden and Cock in 1561. The most famous representation, that of Pieter Bruegel I of 1568 (Naples, Museo Nazionale), may well have been inspired by Van der Heyden's renditions of the theme. The subject subsequently entered into the general vocabulary of Flemish art, being treated by such artists as Pieter Brueghel II and Marten van Valckenborch.