The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Sleeping Peasants near Fields (Parable of the Weeds)

Sleeping Peasants near Fields (Parable of the Weeds)

1650–53
(Dutch, 1601–1653)
Netherlands
oil on canvas
Framed: 122 x 161.5 x 8 cm (48 1/16 x 63 9/16 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 90.4 x 130.4 cm (35 9/16 x 51 5/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1975.76
Location: not on view

Description

During the 1600s Protestant leaders denounced visual representations, in a belief that a strict understanding of the scriptures was the only way to achieve salvation. As a result, Protestants did not generally commission religious images. However, where religious painting did appear, they often depicted verses from the Bible with strict didactic values, such as Sleeping Peasants near Fields (Parable of the Weeds). The subject of this painting is the Parable of the Weeds from Matthew 13:24-30. Simon de Vlieger has illustrated the point in the story where the peasants sleep after sowing good seeds, and the enemy, depicted here as a satyr, mixes in bad seeds in the fields as well. When the weeds begin to grow, confused, the peasants ask the farmer if they should remove the seeds. The farmer replies that they should let the weeds and wheat grow together, and he will destroy the weeds after the harvest. The lesson of the story is that good and evil people often mix together; but in the end the pious will prevail and the wicked will be destroyed.
  • - Hon. Frederick George Lindley Meynell
    -1974 Charles Meynell, sold, London, Sotheby's and Company, 03/27/1974, no. 7, pl. 7
    1774-1975 [Frederick Mont, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 156 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Mentioned: p. 284; Reproduced: p. 285
    Shackelford, George T. M. Monet, Renoir, and the Impressionist Landscape. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2000. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 40, fig. 17
  • Meesters van ons Landschap (Masters of 17th century Dutch Landscape Painting). Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 2, 1987-January 3, 1988); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (co-organizer) (February 3-May 1, 1988); Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA (co-organizer) (June 5-July 31, 1988).
    Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (10/02/1987 - 01/03/1988); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (02/01/1988 - 05/01/1988); Philidelphia Museum of Art (06/05/1988 - 07/31/1988) "Masters of17th-Century Dutch Lanscape Painting" (cat. no. 112, pp. 512-513, repr. p. 512, repr. color plate 79)
    Cleveland Museum of Art (02/03/1976 - 03/07/1976) "Year in Review" (cat. no. 64, illus pp. 40)
  • {{cite web|title=Sleeping Peasants near Fields (Parable of the Weeds)|url=false|author=Simon de Vlieger|year=1650–53|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.76