Bruegel: Census and Massacre

Census in Bethlehem and Massacre of the Innocents: two paintings by Bruegel from 1566. Bruegel's customary care to paying attention to figures who are paying attention to anything but the attention of the spectator, his refusal to link the many figures in a painting to any singular aim, takes on particular force in these works. The paintings adapt Biblical stories to the time and the place in which Bruegel painted, even while the locales have not been, and probably cannot be, linked to any traceable locations. They belong to northern Europe in the sixteenth century, and to nowhere in particular. This distinct dialogue between the contemporary and the placeless may be what makes the pair of Census and Massacre legible 550 years later. Of the four gospels, only Luke describes the counting: Herod has ordered a census and Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem to be counted among the Israelites. "All the world" shall be counted, or taxed, or enrolled: translations differ.