Brueghel battle

It's a work by the Flemish artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger from 1602, his version of Christ dragging his crucifix to Calvary. But this is not the Jerusalem of the Bible. Brueghel put the story into a modern setting and for those who can read it, there's a political message as well.

Georges Marlier, the author of a definitive book on Brueghel the Younger, believes this work alone justifies the artist's standing as one of the masters of Flemish painting. It was probably brought to this country by Sir Rowland Winn some time before 1785 and it has been kept in Nostell Priory, near Wakefield, ever since.

The National Trust now owns the property but not the 150-piece art collection, the most celebrated of which is the Brueghel. The Winn family have made clear their intentions to sell the contents of the house. This is why, as reported by the Yorkshire Post, a major fund-raising project to secure the work for the nation has been launched.

The aim is to raise 2.7m to match the price offered by the Winn family to the National Trust for the work, whose value on the open market is probably closer to 5m. If the target is not reached before Christmas, the piece could be sent to auction and bought by a private collector. That may deny the public the opportunity to view and study Brueghel's intriguing, detailed and beautiful work. Last year alone, more than 40,000 saw it at Nostell.

But why is this piece so special? What messages are there in the detail? Alison Harpur, the National Trust's assistant curator of pictures and sculptures, says: "You could look at it for hours and always find something new. It's so creative and so inventive. The interesting thing is he's situated it in a contemporary Flemish town with contemporary people.

"Brueghel is making it more real for the person looking at it. Although it looks like they're wearing old dresses to us, at the time it would have seemed like it was painted right there and then. It would have been vivid for the viewer."

There are two figures in the foreground, at the left of the painting. "They are like us, looking in. He's showing us what we'd be doing if we were there."

Alison thinks Brueghel sought to bring the Easter message to his audience in much the same way as the BBC tried to do for a 21st century audience four years ago with its live drama called The Manchester Passion, performed in the city on Good Friday. The advantage a 400-year-old painting has over television is that it allows time to inspect every fascinating inch of the canvas.

"There are little bits of Biblical story dotted around," adds Alison. "Kneeling on the ground in front of Jesus is a woman holding up what looks like a white cloth. This is St Veronica, who is said to have offered her veil to Jesus on his way to Calvary to wipe the sweat from his face. According to the legends, a really striking image of Jesus's face was miraculously imprinted on to the veil.

"The lady to the right of her – in the red and green hat – is wiping her eyes or blowing her nose. She's almost showing us what Christ will do. It's lovely little Biblical references, mixed with details from everyday life."

A man in a red tunic-type garment, hides behind a tree at the far right of the landscape. "He is barely noticeable – and Brueghel makes us believe that was the way he wanted it. Could this be John the Evangelist? He was one of the closest disciples to Jesus, and is traditionally shown with the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross." The round building on the left of the townscape represents the Temple in Jerusalem. "Brueghel has painted it, however, with the pointed gables and elongated windows characteristic of medieval Gothic architecture."

When modernising the Biblical into a closely-observed contemporary scene Brueghel was undeterred by the incongruities that followed. So we see a nun giving alms to a beggar sitting by a wayside cross.

More is going on in this time-warp than meets the eye today. Brueghel makes other references which would have been picked up by his contemporaries. The figures in armour would have drawn their attention to the turmoil in the Netherlands and the 80-year war of independence against Spain and the Habsburgs.

"The reference to soldiers is something that is going on in no other paintings of the time. One of the soldiers holds a yellow standard on which can just be made out the black double-headed eagle of the (Habsburg) Holy Roman Emperor. The banner may be surreptitiously implying that they were soldiers of the Habsburg army, which had brutally enforced order in the Low Countries. So the work is not only more real from the public's point of view but it is also making a covert political statement."

Not all the characters in the painting have been decoded. Riding on horseback in the procession following Jesus is what looks to viewers like Father Christmas. Experts scratch their heads over who he is.

Brueghel painted multiple versions of The Procession to Calvary to order. But only five are signed and dated by him. The version at Nostell is the second in the series and, due to its skilful finish, is considered to be the best. It surpasses his first painting of the scene, which has been in Florence's Uffizi gallery since before 1686. Another in the series sold in 2006 for 5.1m. It was taken out of the country, a fate the National Trust is determined to avoid.

Look out for details of a special Yorkshire Post reader event giving you an exclusive opportunity to explore the painting in detail at a social gathering.

A JOINT APPROACH

To reach the 2.7m needed to buy Brueghel's work, the National Trust is working with the Art Fund, the national fundraising charity for works of art, which has given 500,000 already.

You can donate either via www.artfund.org/procession, by telephoning 0844 415 4004 or by sending a cheque made payable to the Art Fund, to: Art Fund, Freepost SN1457, Halifax Road, Melksham, SN12 7BR.

The two organisations believe everyone should have access to great art, and ownership of the painting will give the National Trust more freedom to make reproductions of it, use images online, and show it in different ways to reach a wider audience.