Cripples by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
The Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Elder depicted the crippled more than once in his genre works. In the 16th century, cripples were a frequent sight on city streets and rural roads. The interest of the painter is connected not so much with their physical disabilities, but with the psychology and behavior, which differ from the worldview and manners of healthy people.
It is noteworthy that representatives of this social group of the population never became the subject of Brueghel’s irony and are not found as characters in the proverbs illustrated by him. The painting “Cripples” is the last major work of the artist, written a year before his death. Pitiful cripples are crowded against the background of bright green grass. The red brick walls that compress the space enhance the sense of tragedy of what is happening.