is probably some satirical political allusion to the revolutionary
party who called themselves the _Gueux_ (beggars). A similar political
significance is probably the intention of _The Parable of the Blind_
(No. 1917A). The single file of blind men following their blind
leaders into a river is meant to satirise the moral blindness of the
artist’s compatriots following their political leaders into disaster.
This excellent version of Brueghel’s famous masterpiece at Naples
was bought at the Leys sale at Antwerp, in 1894, for £724. The type
of picture to which the elder Brueghel owes his sobriquet “Peasant
Brueghel” is exemplified at the Louvre by two little panels, _A
Village_ (No. 1918) and _Peasants Dancing_ (No. 1918A), which can,
however, only be accepted as school pictures.