Suicide of Saul
1562 | Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.
This biblical story describes the battle between Israelites and Philistines on Mount Gilboa which ends in the defeat and suicide of King Saul (to the left in the picture). There are numerous inter-pretations: punished pride, the foolishness and perversity of the world, human delusion, vanity; the main subject is the landscape, while the story is of secondary importance; humanity is subject to the inevitable course of nature.
This biblical story describes the battle between Israelites and Philistines on Mount Gilboa which ends in the defeat and suicide of King Saul (to the left in the picture). There are numerous inter-pretations: punished pride, the foolishness and perversity of the world, human delusion, vanity; the main subject is the landscape, while the story is of secondary importance; humanity is subject to the inevitable course of nature.
Artist:
Pieter Bruegel d. Ä. (um 1525/30 Breugel oder Antwerpen? - 1569 Brüssel) DNB
Time:
1562
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Netherlandish
Material/technology:
oak wood
Dimensions:
Overall: 34,7 cm × 55,6 cm × 0,5 cm
Framed: 47,5 cm × 69 cm × 5,5 cm
Signed
Inscribed at the lower left edge of the picture between two pieces of rock: SAVL. XXXI CAPIT.; and: BRVEGEL. M.CCCCC.LXII
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 1011
Provenance
Coll. P. P. Rubens (estate inventory 1640, no. 212?); documented in the gallery 1783