There’s A World Outside Your Window
By Toby Berryman
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Census at Bethlehem, 1566, oil on panel, 116cm x 165cm, Oldmasters Museum - Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.
As advent itself draws to a close, we oft-realise that Christmas is, after all, a time for reflection, for tradition, and for life’s purest forms. While the nights are dark and the days wintry and cold, the timeless sentiment of Geldof and Ure that the holidays are a time to “let in light and banish shade” rings especially true. Thus, whether you’re religiously listening to East 17’s classic ‘Stay Another Day’ (with bonus points available for any drunken music-video recreations) or waiting up for Midnight Mass, it truly is the diversity of festive commemorations which should be celebrated this Christmas Eve.
Of course, Christmas marks a particularly apt time to consider the plights of others, beyond those who might receive an inconsequential gift from you beneath the tree tomorrow morning. Charitable giving is always on the rise come December and it has been especially intriguing to see the impact of artistic-direction on such campaigns this season; from Katharine Hamnett’s graphic-visuals for the legendary ‘Choose Love’ movement, to the iconic visual (and sonic) identity of the much-beloved Salvation Army – the prominence and influence of aesthetics remains ever-present.
While there endures the traditional stereotype of the harmonious British family, relatives returned, settled before a golden (albeit excruciatingly dry) roast-turkey, the realities of modern Britain instead reflect a thoroughly different truth. The pressures of Christmas are harmonious for very few, whilst only half even include a turkey in tomorrow’s meal. Fewer than 5% of Britons attend church at Christmas-time and, perhaps most importantly, almost 10% do not celebrate the Christian-holiday whatsoever. Thus, while many households might enjoy the revelry of a few days off-work, returning home a little bit tipsy to uphold a number of our nation’s at times rather peculiar traditions, such as those encompassed by lesser-known artist William A.G. Ward’s sentimental A Little Bit Tipsy, Christmas Eve, 1996 (The Old Hoss); it pays to remember the sensitivities of what may be a nonetheless challenging time for others.
William A. G. Ward, A Little Bit Tipsy, Christmas Eve, 1996 (The Old Hoss), 1996, oil on canvas, 121cm x 152cm, The Richmond Collection.
I recently re-discovered Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s masterful The Census at Bethlehem, 1566 - over four hundred and fifty years old and yet amusingly relevant to the actualities of our modern Christmastime. Despite the religious pretence of the work’s title and ostensible subject-matter, The Census at Bethlehem is instead populated by the authentic realities of life. Far from the religious-idealism of Gozzoli or Gaddi’s depictions, Bruegel turns his hand to the so-called common man. In his Bethlehem, crowds mob the inn, villagers play on the icy-river, and one figure (towards the work’s centre-background) relieves himself against a building. Many such-scenes, despite their biblical-origins, we will no doubt recognise ourselves this week, almost five centuries on. And so, while our Christmases may indeed be changing, it is almost touching to consider just how constant human nature really is.
Hence, with my best efforts to avoid soppiness and pretentiousness, when all about you may be losing theirs this Christmastime (be that suffering at the hands of Scrabble or the dreaded topic of politics), keep your head and celebrate the individuality, nostalgia, and tradition of our respective holiday-seasons (whether you are pro-Elf or a stickler for Carols from King’s), with more than a little consideration for the struggle of others in the world outside your window…
Bibliography
ArtUK. “Discover – Artworks – A Little Bit Tipsy, Christmas Eve, 1996 (The Old Hoss)”. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/a-little-bit-tipsy-christmas-eve-1996-the-old-hoss-10094.
McCouat, Philip. “Bruegel’s White Christmas: The Census at Bethlehem”. Journal of Art in Society (2021).
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. “The Census at Bethlehem – Bruegel’s Reimagining of a Biblical Story in Contemporary Terms”. Google Arts and Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-census-at-bethlehem-royal-museums-of-fine-arts-of-belgium/sAWxGcrY3z1hKQ.