Pieter Bruegel the Elder,
Elck or Everyman, a
drawing
Flanders, AD 1558
Elck
in Dutch means 'each' or 'everyone'
and the scenes in this drawing illustrate proverbs or sayings. The
central proverb concerns Elck who vainly seeks himself in the
objects of this world as he stands over a broken globe. With a
lantern he searches through a pile of barrels and bales, a game
board, cards and objects which signify the distractions of life. To
the right, two more Elck figures play tug of war with a rope,
illustrating the saying, 'each tugs for the longest
end'. In the background on a wall hangs a picture which
continues the moral theme. It shows a fool sitting among a pile of
broken household objects gazing at himself in a mirror. He is
Nemo or Nobody, as the
inscription below him informs us: 'Nobody knows
himself.'
This is
one of many moral drawings (and paintings) by Pieter Bruegel. Here,
he condemns the selfish pursuit of worldly goods but he also shows,
through the picture of the fool, a way of conquering this vice.
Only through self-knowledge can Elck free himself from the
world's
vanities.
This drawing, in
pen and brown ink, is partly indented for transfer to a plate for
an
engraving.
It was commissioned by the Antwerp publisher Hieronymous Cock
(around 1510-70), and probably engraved by Pieter van der
Heyden.
W.S. Gibson, Bruegel (Thames and Hudson, 1997)
H. Mielke, Pieter Bruegel, Die Zeichnunge (Brepols, Turnhout, 1998)
J.O. Hand (ed.), The age of Bruegel: Netherland (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC & Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1986, 1987)