Yawning Man (disputed attribution)
This little tondo was long attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, but experts have more recently agreed that it was painted by the hand of his eldest son.
It is a study of a face aimed at analysing extreme facial expressions. In Renaissance theory of art, the correct rendering of facial expressions was an important artistic requirement. Before this, Bruegel experts tried to interpret the yawning face as an allegory for Sloth. This sin was generally considered as “the Devil’s pillow”. The sort of work ethic which is portrayed by this expression was far from a foreign concept for the pre-capitalist middle-class society of the 16th century. Art from this time uses satirical images of beggars and other types of people who did not earn their money from working.
The fact that a country man is depicted yawning is doubtless not by chance: the urban middle classes wished to set themselves apart from this vulgar behaviour practiced by peasants and country folk. Yawning, and particularly showing ones teeth whilst doing so was considered as rude.
