Bruegel the Elder, Pieter (c.1525-1569)
The Suicide of Saul
1562
Oil on oak panel, 34.7 × 55.6 × 0.5 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Inscribed at the lower left edge of the picture between two pieces of rock: SAVL. XXXI CAPIT.; and: BRVEGEL. M.CCCCC.LXII
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 interpretations: 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. (KHM)