Desidia (Sloth)

This pen and gray-brown ink drawing dates from 1557 and continues the impressive output of Pieter Bruegel within this creative medium. Many of his remaining drawings from produced around this time.

Desidia (Sloth) features a chaotic scene, with visual flair spread right acros the composition. At first glance it is hard to see quite where the main focal point of the artwork is, and even after you find it your eyes are still distracted by the many other elements of activity that occur across this scene.

You will find the usual style of his drawings here, with a fully complete artwork - differing to Renaissance drawings which were frequently just an element of a scene, such as an arm or a leg. Bruegel's drawings could, in the main, be presented as genuine artworks in their own right rather than just supporting pieces to a later oil painting.

This drawing can be found at the Albertina Museum, an impressive institution that holds one of the finest collections of drawings from around the time of the Renaissance and in the centuries just afterwards. In recent years there has been a growing interest in the draughtmanship of the greatest European painters, with many exhibitions promoting this section of their work and also helping us to understand more about their very precise production techniques.