I love wandering through art museums, especially in off-times when I can pretend that I am alone with works that draw me in and skip past the ones that don’t reach out to me. But, that, of course, is not always possible. The thing that makes me crazy is the folks who take pictures of pictures or pictures of themselves with pictures. My usual response to that behavior is “Buy the [expletive] post card” (sotto voce, of course). So, here I confess that I have taken a photo of a painting on a museum wall+, but I justify myself for having done so because a) the painting is not listed in the museum’s guide; b) there isn’t a post card of it in the museum shop; c) it put me in mind immediately of the YA novel Where Were You, Robert? *(also issued as Lost in Time).
Robert of the novel is described as a dreamer, often off in the clouds. He stares at an image and suddenly he is living in that image. Watching a tv program about life in 1950s USSR, Robert finds himself stranded in Siberia until another image takes him back further and furter in time until he ends up in 17th century Netherlands during the Thirty Years War, when he finally figures out a way to get back home.
The painting that grabbed my attention and reminded me of Robert is The Robbery of the Farm by Karel Breydel. What made me look more closely here is the two figures, bound, hanging from the tree and the women looking out from the upper story windows. Violence between soldiers armed with swords and civilians armed with sticks swirls in the foreground, sweeping into the mid-and background.+
Breydel, a late 17th century, early 18th century painter was known as the “Le Chevalier” because most of his paintings are battle scenes and equestrian poses.
Are the soldiers marauding and the non-mounted figures defending what’s theirs? Or is it the reverse–soldiers defending against a guerrilla incursion? The painting, in my mind, is a perfect illustration for one of the final episodes in Robert. But for the attire of the figures in the painting, it could as readily be a scene from any bellicose confrontation we’ve become accustomed to viewing on our phones and tvs.
+Museum Mayer van den Bergh is a delightful museum that houses an astounding collection of medieval and early modern work. It is home to a multitude of work by Brueghel (Elder and Youngers) and should be on the to-visit list of anyone in Antwerp.
*Where Were You, Robert? by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, translated by Anthea Bell, originally published 2000. isbn 978-0241140710. I’ve been able to find only on used books sites, so I guess it’s out of print.
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