Big Fish Eat Little Fish

This is one of Bruegel’s most haunting images. It is amongst the first of the artist’s many explorations of proverbs using paintings or prints. The inspiration is from an ancient Latin proverb and it may have been influenced by a lost prototype by Bosch. However, we know the imagery is certainly Bruegel’s, since the preparatory drawing survives with his signature and is dated 1556. Bruegel related to the theme of a senseless world in which the powerful instinctively and consistently prey upon the weak. Bruegel revived interest in Bosch’s imagery and this was in keeping with his rejection of the Italian influence which was becoming widespread amongst northern artists, such as Sebald Beham, at this time.