The Hunters in the Snow: A Complete Guide
The view opens from the height of a tree or elevation, much higher than human height, there is a hypothesis that we look at the world through the eyes of a bird that at this moment flies to the trees and this vision is captured by a painter.
This theory is well complemented by the painting’s central motif of a bird trap, which is in the center of the painting, but can only be discerned by looking closely at the details.
If we accept the hypothesis that the observer is a bird flying in the direction of the trees, then the bird trap appears in a different light as a threat and a warning. More about the meaning of the trap will be discussed below.
About hunters
Every step in the deep snow is difficult. Usually the scene of the return of the hunters is perceived as a failed hunt and disappointment, you need to look at the details. Who could they have hunted with such dogs? There are four greyhounds or English greyhounds, several Belgian bloodhounds with sagging ears and a couple of small dogs. Greyhounds were usually used to hunt hare, fox or wolf, not large animals. Bloodhounds often hunted with other dogs as bloodhounds.
With such a set of dogs you can hunt rabbits, foxes or forest birds. For hunting large animals other breeds of dogs were taken, for example Alanut, with them you can hunt elk, bear or wild boar.
In the Limbourg Brothers boar hunt, such breeds of dogs are used.
Pieter Bruegel’s hunters have one fox among their prey, but foxes were not hunted for food, rather for the protection of poultry and for fur for winter clothing.
Two hunters have bags hanging on their belts, their shape shows that they are filled with something, most likely with partridges, quail or other forest birds. So we cannot say that the hunt ended in failure, it can be called an average result for such a harsh winter.
The scene at the hotel
A fire was built near the hotel, most likely to smoke pork or wild boar, these supplies could feed the family for the whole winter or the city for a few days. It is unclear what the man with the table in his hands is doing, is he trying to dodge the flames blown by the wind or does he want to throw the table into the fire?
The broken hotel sign has an image of St. Hubert on it; he is the patron saint of hunters.
The painting depicts the scene of St. Hubert’s conversion to the Christian faith. He was hunting on “Good Friday” and after seeing the crucifix between the antlers of a deer he converted to Christianity and became the patron saint of hunters.
The inscription on the sign “DIT IS IN DEN HERT” is most likely a mistake in this phrase. There is an idea that Bruegel’s intention was to make the full inscription sound like a pun, in fact the inscription should be more like “DIT IS GUDEN HERT” which means “this is a golden stag”, such an inscription is more appropriate to the story of St. Hubert.
Perhaps by the broken sign Bruegel is implying that hunters can never be sure of the outcome of a hunt. In this case the hunters have an average result, despite the harsh winter, it is very cold outside, as can be judged by the fur mittens on their hands.
Ice Age and fire
The painting was painted around 1564–1565. 1564 was the first winter of the so-called Little Ice Age. The Scheldt River in Antwerp froze a meter in this year, the Meuse River was no longer navigable despite all efforts to fight the ice, water reserves froze and food supplies ran out.
As you can see the harsh winter does not scare anyone and a lot of people are riding on the lake, apparently the crisis associated with the terrible cold weather has not yet begun, frost in Europe reached more than -40 degrees Celsius.
In the background near the bridge at the river starts a fire, a column of fire comes from the pipe, to the house put a ladder to fight the fire, from the other side of the river runs help with another ladder.
In the Bible, fire and fire are often symbols associated with the end times and the end of the world, often associated with the punishment of sinners and the purification of the universe before the establishment of a new divine order.
For example, Deuteronomy in the Old Testament states:
“Fire has burned in my wrath, and with blazing anger to the bottom of the underworld, and shall devour the earth and its fruits, and shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains” (Deuteronomy 32:22, Bible).
We can’t say that the foundations of the mountains are burning in our picture, but obviously a fire is starting.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the coming of the Son of Man who will come with fire chapter 3:12 states:
“His shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the straw He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Fires in the Middle Ages used to destroy cities, Bruegel depicts the beginning of the fire, it is impossible to say for sure whether the whole city will catch fire? Most of the people on the pond are not yet aware of the fire on the edge of the town and are enjoying their winter games.
The bird trap and the Devil
The central motif of the painting is the bird trap, the symbol of the bird catcher in the Bible is associated with the presence of the Devil himself. According to ancient tradition, birds are a symbol of the human soul.
In Psalms 123:7:
“We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the trappers; the snare is broken, and we are saved!”
From Jeremiah we can find in the Old Testament chapter 5:
“For among my people are the wicked: they keep watch like birdcatchers, they crouch down to the ground, they set snares and traps and catch people. Like a cage filled with birds, their houses are full of deceit”
In the epistle to Timothy 2:26:
“that they may be delivered from the snare of the Devil, who has caught them into his will.”
The same recurring motif with the Devil’s traps is found throughout, with the symbol of the bird catcher as the Devil’s snare becoming common in medieval literature.
For example, in Sebastian Brant we can find:
“Just like a girl, playing with pleasure, And reflected in a mirror for all the world to watch, When the Devil’s nets are spread, That many souls go to hell”
An interesting incarnation of the Devil by Hans Sebald Beham in the illustration, with curly horns and clawed paws, is carrying a trap, and a bird with a halo over his head is used as bait.
The trap is in the very center of the painting, and it is hard to imagine that Bruegel places it in the center of the painting by accident. If we accept the hypothesis that we look at the painting through the bird’s eye, the trap plays an even more significant role. This is the author’s way of warning the observer of the danger of the Devil’s traps.
Winter landscape with skaters and a bird trap.
The trap for birds is of great importance in the painting “Winter landscape with skaters and a trap for birds”. The principle of the trap is very simple, a stick is placed under the hinged door and a rope is tied to it, pulling on it, the door falls down, covering the birds.
“Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit,” the important word here being “houses.” We see the house of the bird catcher where the rope leads to activate the trap.
Modern studies draw an analogy between the people on the ice and the birds near the trap, then the people must also have a house in which their trapper hides, in the painting this house is the church it is in relation to the people, just as the trapper’s house is in relation to the birds.
One can take this painting as a criticism of the church. In several places the birds are depicted in human proportions, which also suggests that humans and birds are in the same position.
If you count all the birds and people in the picture, you get about the same number, I got 31 people and 32 birds, except for two birds that fly high in the sky.
An epic of biblical proportions.
Bruegel’s choice of the unusual number of paintings in the series is understandable. The series originally consisted of six panels, alluding to the six days of creation, the painting of the sixth day has unfortunately not survived, the missing sixth day pointing to the seventh: the Day of the Lord and at the same time the Second Coming of Christ on the Last Day.
The essence of Bruegel’s concept is that he plans the seventh day as an empty place in the cycle. According to spiritual tradition — we must realize that the Second Coming of Christ is not to be expected in the end times, it can happen at any time in our souls.
The end-time signs scattered throughout the paintings are not to be taken literally as warnings of the Last Judgment, but rather as an invitation to develop one’s own thinking.
The series takes shape as an epic on a biblical scale in terms of theological understandings of life. The series is a biblical epic in the sense that it presents the order that God has imposed on his creation.
The seasons reflect human nature in living out their changes. Nature is in charge here, it can give people good things to feed and care for them as well as show anger by sending calamities to mankind.
