Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych – Detail

Der unaufhörlich klopfende Vogel ist ein Mahner zum Glauben und als Vertilger der schädlichen Larven ein Sinnbild Christi. Der Specht findet sich auf dem Baum zu Häupten des Verlorenen Sohnes… (p. 14)

The peddler’s susceptibility to the inebriation at the inn is made plain by several symbols. One of the most obvious is the tit above his head. According to Bax, this bird is a symbol of both drunkenness and wavering weakness [Bax, 1979, 302]. The tit is menaced by a particularly fierce and predatory owl, and does not look as though it has much chance resisting the owl’s advances. This stress on intoxication is particularly relevant to the Cathar meaning of Bosch’s painting, for as we saw earlier, the Gnostics and Manicheans used drunkenness and sleep as metaphors for the soul’s forgetfulness of its true nature. A Manichean call to the soul from one of the ninth century writings found at the Turfan Oasis between 1902 and 1907 illustrates this concept [Jonas, 1963, 83]. (p. 164)

It represents the spiritual conversion of the Prodigal, and is therefore to be regarded as his soul-bird. We see it first in a cage outside the sinister house, representing the hero’s past entanglement in the evil world. In those days a birdcage hanging at the door was the sign of a brothel. Then the bird escapes and, like the birds that so often show people the way in fairy tales, flutters ahead of the fugitive and perches on the bottom bar of the gate-the direction his feet must take. Finally it soars to the top of a high pole from where it can see his father’s house rising out of the trees. (p. 260)

…a second bird, probably a titmouse or chickadee [Silver, 2006, 411:note 31; de Jongh, 2000, 43]. Of course, it might be possible to see this bird outside its normal cage context as escaped and wild; images of children, as Bedaux has indicated, are shown with such pets as symbols of their own capacity to be taught and disciplined [Silver, 2006, 411:note 31; de Jongh, 2000, 43; Bedaux & Ekkart, 2000, 19-21, 148-149, no. 26; Cats, 1642; Swelinck, 1627]. (p. 259)