ABSTRACT
In The Beggars, Pieter Breughel the Elder shows a group of five men with deformities of the legs and a variety of curious crutches and prostheses to help them get around. Three of the group face forwards, whereas the others have their backs to the group, one looking into the distance towards a stone arch. We can assume that he is similarly afflicted as his comrades, since the shaft of a crutch under his right arm can just be glimpsed emerging from under his cloak, adorned with what look like fox tails. Three of the remaining four have lost their feet and are all armed with crutches and all have wooden devices attached to their lower legs. Two of these devices (of the first and fifth beggars) look like elaborate shin guards, which were evidently used to shuffle along the ground: the beggar at the right of the group is on his knees indicating both how these rudimentary sledges were used and how they were attached to the leg. The shin guards of the third beggar have a long point projecting from the front which was used to support the knee, as he hobbled along with the aid of his crutches. The fifth beggar is standing with his right knee flexed as we may suppose the joint was fixed in this position, which would explain his need for crutches. His face has a rather vacuous expression and his eyes appear to be moving independently in the way those of a blind man move.
