Statue Storm!

“Oh SHIT!” I thought, as I lay in bed last night.  “I’ve forgotten!  What was the consequence of the ‘Letters from the Segovia Woods,’ written by Philip II of Spain to Margaret of Parma in 1565-66, wherein Philip rejected requests to abolish the laws against heresy in the Spanish Netherlands?!”

It’s a wonder I got to sleep at all, but I did.  All night I was haunted, however, by dreams of Dutch Calvinists smashing Catholic art.  My dreams looked like this:

When I woke up, it was with a smile.

“Of course,” I remembered.  “The Letters from the Segovia Woods led to the ‘Beeldenstorm’ – the ‘statue storm’ – wherein angry Dutch Protestants destroyed Catholic iconography.  Then the Duke of Alba shows up to repress the uprising, etc. etc., the 80 Years War is ON.”

Here, from the relevant Wikipedia page, is Bruegel the Elder’s painting The Preaching Of John The Baptist:

Who’s that looking back at us?  Bruegel himself?  I dunno, but here’s the kind of detail you’d get to see if you were at the Szépmûvészeti Múzeum, Budapest: