End Notes
Seeing the Light: bruegel's Conversion of Saul
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[1] Flanders is historically the northern Dutch-speaking region of Belgium
[2] Bible, Acts 7:59
[3] Bible, Acts 9:1
[4] Bible, Acts 9:2
[5] Christina Currie and Dominique Allart, “Observations on the Genesis of Pieter Bruegel’s The Conversion of Saul and the Examination of Two Copies”, in Alice Hoppe-Harnoncourt et al (eds), Bruegel: The Hand of the Master: Essays in Context, 2019
[6] Bible, Acts 9; 3-8
[7] It’s interesting to note that, contrary to an often-expressed view, Saul was not actually converted by the blinding flash of light, but only a while later
[8] Karel Van Mander’s 1604 biography, cited in Fritz Grossmann, Bruegel, the Paintings, London, Phaidon Press, 1955
[9] Wilfried Seipel (ed), Pieter Bruegel the Elder at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (Skira, 1998) at 114, 115
[10] Cited in Philippe and François Roberts-Jones, Bruegel, Flammarion, Paris, 2012 at 141
[11] Conveniently collected at Hoakley, “The Story in Paintings: The Road to Damascus and the Conversion of Saint Paul” https://eclecticlight.co/2016/08/06/the-story-in-paintings-the-road-to-damascus-and-the-conversion-of-saint-paul/
[12] Quoted by S G Hitchins, “Art as history, history as art: Jheronimus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, assembling knowledge not setting puzzles”, Dissertation, at 241 https://hdl.handle.net/2066/132856
[13] The elevation of Mount Cenis is 2,085 meters / 6,841 feet. For a detailed account of Alba’s expedition, see Geoffrey Parker, “The Spanish Road to the Netherlands”, HistoryNet, 28 September 2012 https://www.historynet.com/the-spanish-road-to-the-netherlands/
[14] See generally Timothy Foote, The World of Bruegel, Time-Life International (Nederland), 1971 at 98; Stanley Ferber, “Peter Bruegel and the Duke of Alba”, Renaissance News vol 19, No 3, 1966, though note that some of Ferber’s claims have been found to be flawed.
[15] Walter S Gibson, Bruegel, Oxford University Press, New York, 1977 at 182
[16] Seipel. op cit
[17] Grossmann, op cit at 201
[18] Roberts-Jones, op cit at 141
[19] He died in 1569
[20] Grossmann, op cit at 37
[21] Irving L. Zupnick, “Bruegel and the Revolt of the Netherlands”, Art Journal, Vol 23, No 4 (Summer 1964), 283
[22] Barbara A Kaminska, “Come, let us make a city and a tower: Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Tower of Babel and the Creation of a Harmonious Community in Antwerp”, Journal of Historians and Netherlandish Art, Vol 6, issue 2 (Summer 2014); see also Todd Marlin Richardson, “Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Art Discourse in the Sixteenth Century Netherlands", at 69ff https://maypoleofwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/thesis.pdf
[23] Such an interpretation was raised in Ferber, op cit, and Foote, op cit. See end note [14].
© Philip McCouat 2025.
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[1] Flanders is historically the northern Dutch-speaking region of Belgium
[2] Bible, Acts 7:59
[3] Bible, Acts 9:1
[4] Bible, Acts 9:2
[5] Christina Currie and Dominique Allart, “Observations on the Genesis of Pieter Bruegel’s The Conversion of Saul and the Examination of Two Copies”, in Alice Hoppe-Harnoncourt et al (eds), Bruegel: The Hand of the Master: Essays in Context, 2019
[6] Bible, Acts 9; 3-8
[7] It’s interesting to note that, contrary to an often-expressed view, Saul was not actually converted by the blinding flash of light, but only a while later
[8] Karel Van Mander’s 1604 biography, cited in Fritz Grossmann, Bruegel, the Paintings, London, Phaidon Press, 1955
[9] Wilfried Seipel (ed), Pieter Bruegel the Elder at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (Skira, 1998) at 114, 115
[10] Cited in Philippe and François Roberts-Jones, Bruegel, Flammarion, Paris, 2012 at 141
[11] Conveniently collected at Hoakley, “The Story in Paintings: The Road to Damascus and the Conversion of Saint Paul” https://eclecticlight.co/2016/08/06/the-story-in-paintings-the-road-to-damascus-and-the-conversion-of-saint-paul/
[12] Quoted by S G Hitchins, “Art as history, history as art: Jheronimus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel the Elder, assembling knowledge not setting puzzles”, Dissertation, at 241 https://hdl.handle.net/2066/132856
[13] The elevation of Mount Cenis is 2,085 meters / 6,841 feet. For a detailed account of Alba’s expedition, see Geoffrey Parker, “The Spanish Road to the Netherlands”, HistoryNet, 28 September 2012 https://www.historynet.com/the-spanish-road-to-the-netherlands/
[14] See generally Timothy Foote, The World of Bruegel, Time-Life International (Nederland), 1971 at 98; Stanley Ferber, “Peter Bruegel and the Duke of Alba”, Renaissance News vol 19, No 3, 1966, though note that some of Ferber’s claims have been found to be flawed.
[15] Walter S Gibson, Bruegel, Oxford University Press, New York, 1977 at 182
[16] Seipel. op cit
[17] Grossmann, op cit at 201
[18] Roberts-Jones, op cit at 141
[19] He died in 1569
[20] Grossmann, op cit at 37
[21] Irving L. Zupnick, “Bruegel and the Revolt of the Netherlands”, Art Journal, Vol 23, No 4 (Summer 1964), 283
[22] Barbara A Kaminska, “Come, let us make a city and a tower: Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Tower of Babel and the Creation of a Harmonious Community in Antwerp”, Journal of Historians and Netherlandish Art, Vol 6, issue 2 (Summer 2014); see also Todd Marlin Richardson, “Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Art Discourse in the Sixteenth Century Netherlands", at 69ff https://maypoleofwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/thesis.pdf
[23] Such an interpretation was raised in Ferber, op cit, and Foote, op cit. See end note [14].
© Philip McCouat 2025.
Return to Home