Pamono Bernhard Keil / Monsù Bernardo, Two Blind Figures Helping Each Other, Oil on Canvas, 17th Century, Framed, 1800s, Oil on Canvas> Old Masters|Painting

Bernhard Keil, also known as “Monsù Bernardo” (Helsingør, Denmark, 1624– Rome, Italy, 1687)
Title: Two blind figures helping each other
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: without frame 152 x 201 cm – with frame 174 x 220 x 7 cm
Not signed

Literature: Maleren Eberhart Keilhau 1624 – 1687, by Minna Heimbürger, Rhodos Publisher, pp. 342-344.

An old man stands bent over by a river that leads diagonally out of the picture, barely able to free his companion from his predicament due to his blindness. The latter has just fallen into the river and appears to be just as deformed and blind as his companion. Born in Denmark as the son of a German painter and initially trained there, Bernhard Keil spent two years in the workshop of Rembrandt (1606-1669) in Amsterdam before opening his own studio there. In 1651 he travelled to Venice, Italy. He travelled between Venice, Bergamo and Milan, and he devoted himself to various genres of painting, especially portraits, including a portrait of Queen Christina of Sweden (1626-1689), who was staying in Ravenna at the time. He finally worked in Rome from 1656.