signed and dated ‘Olphaert 10/4/2006’
egg tempera on paper
61 x 46 cm
Exhibited:
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, S&K Morf, 2008 (exhib. cat., p. 126, ill.).

No Sloth by Bruegel is part of the refuge morphology series, which consists of 126 egg tempera paintings on paper that form a large-scale study of the depiction (in art) of housing on the edge of homelessness. The starting point of the series was a small sketch of a hut and, as Philip Peters has observed, ‘’the artist became conscious that this was not just any hut, it had to be the hut’’. [1] Peters continuous that the painting for which it was a study eventually had to deal with ‘’everything, encompass everything: the whole world. He [Olphaert] realised he could complete such a task only if he first undertook visual research into huts. Four years and 126 paintings later he was ready to make the final painting, which he entitled De buitenplaats (The retreat).’’ Each work in the series is based on an existing work of art, with the earliest work being Robert Campin’s (circa 1378-1444) The Nativity from 1425 and the latest Urs Fischer’s (born 1973) Bread House from 2006. As the titles indicate, Olphaert has removed the protagonists inhabiting the prototypes giving centre stage to the shelters, huts, caves and stables themselves. By removing the protagonists, the focus has shifted from the traditionally religious narratives to secular subjects like huts, buildings, and caves, and as a result the viewers can position themselves within the scenes. The present work is based on the hut appearing at right in Sloth (Desidia), from: The Seven Deadly Sins engraved by Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel (fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Pieter van der Heyden after Pieter Bruegel, Sloth (Desidia), from: The Seven Deadly Sins, engraving, 22.7 x 29.6 cm, 1558, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

[1] P. Peters, ‘The Retreat’, in S&K Morf, exhib. cat., Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2008, p. 156.