Maybe Brueghel’s single shoe is a random detail, but, as
I’ve said before, that is unlikely; the painting is too small, and carefully
constructed for random detail.
It seems more likely that it is connected with the old
tradition of concealing shoes in the walls or roof spaces of houses, which was
commonplace across Northern Europe. It is thought to have been a way of
guarding against evil spirits. The theory is that somehow the spirit of the
wearer lingered in the shoe; shoes are very personal things which shape
themselves to our feet. The spirit of the wearer, like an ethereal version of a
Ring doorbell, was supposed to watch over the house. They may also have been a
way of ritually preserving the presence of ancestors in the house. There are
prehistoric traditions of the burial of family members beneath the floors of
houses which seem to serve a similar purpose.
Maybe this another way for Brueghel to tell us that, through
the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus death and evil have been
defeated. There is no need for people to resort to concealing shoes to guard
against them!
For Reflection
St Paul says: I am convinced that neither death nor life,
nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nore powers,
nor height, hore depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8. 37-39
Do you fear death? If so, why?
Are there any things you do, or avoid doing, which you
recognise have no basis in logic, but make you feel better?
The whole picture:
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