Your vision’s spooky-impressive if you can spot the skeleton playing music in this Renaissance painting in 10 seconds
THERE will be no skeletons rattling in your closet if you’re able to spot one playing music in this Renaissance painting.
But the challenge is doubly hard because you only have ten seconds to complete the task.
Don’t let that put you off because all that is required is close attention to detail.
There is certainly plenty of that in this artwork, The Triumph of Death, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted c. 1562.
Bruegel was a Dutch/Flemish artist, considered one of the greats of his generation.
He was a pioneer in his depiction of peasants in his work but there is far more going on in this painting.
Some art historians believe it was influenced by outbreaks of the Black Death so prevalent at that time in Europe.
There is plenty to draw the eye to this dark, apocalyptic, and dystopian landscape.
In it, the living co-exists with the dead as dozens of skeletons gather those departed and the dying.
Those clinging to survival appear to be in a dreadfully perilous state.
This might explain why some experts believe Bruegel’s painting is attempting to make some kind of moral statement about the spread of the disease.
Art fans can see the work in Madrid, where it has been displayed at the Museo del Prado since 1827.
There is an awful lot going on in this piece of artwork, including the bizarre and the absurd.
In some parts of the painting, life seems to continue as normal, despite the chaotic scenes unfolding.
Food is laid out on a table in one corner, and a game of backgammon appears to have been abandoned mid-game.
Elsewhere, music is being played. But can you see a skeleton making tunes on a medieval stringed instrument, possibly a baroque guitar?
Don’t worry if your eyes fail you.
The culprit is circled in red in the picture below, solving this eye test once and for all.