The Peasant Dance

Before concert halls, this is where most people heard music: a village fair outside the inn, the church in the background, and a bagpiper with his cheeks puffed out, driving the dancers on. Bruegel puts the piper in the foreground beside a companion, so the music is the engine of the whole crowded scene rather than background noise. Couples hurry hand in hand into the dance while others eat, drink and embrace around them. It is the best antidote on this list to the idea that old paintings of music are all about refinement; this is folk music doing its real job of getting a crowd moving.