Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych – Detail

Want in de volwassen koe zal men toch wel geen zinspeling op het gemeste kalf mogen zien [Hannema, 1931, 8]. Het dier ligt geknield. Een liggende os is een veel voorkomend teeken voor herbergen [Lennep & Gouw, 1868, 192]. Wil het dier dus uitdrukken, dat den man thans een betere toekomst wacht? Is daarom het hek nog gesloten, als om aan te duiden, dat het nog twijfelachtig is, of hij dat betere leven ooit bereiken zal, nu hij als Jut voor het hek staat? [Harrebomée, 1858, 299, 368] Zinspeelt op de kans op een rampzalig uiteinde, dat weliswaar nu weer teruggeweken is, de galg, die in de verte opdoemt ? Die is immers volgens het spreekwoord voor de ongelukkigen [Harrebomée, 1858, 199]. (pp. 83-84)

… a light brown cow, imperturbable like the good creature it is. (p. 258)

The animal is painted with such straightforward realism that it seems to be completely absorbed in its undemanding existence – a cow in its pasture and nothing more. Nonetheless it is a characteristic of Bosch’s nature symbolism to see the immanence of the divine in all reality, however mundane, and to illuminate it by cross-associations. Like the cow in the Cologne Nativity picture, this is a sanctified creature… It is the sacrificial animal of the Old Testament, the “red heifer without spot,” which, according to Numbers, is to be given to Eleazar the priest to be killed and burned as an atonement offering, after which its ashes are to be sprinkled with water and used to purify the whole people [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Numbers, 19:2-9]. In Hebrews, this Mosaic catharsis is extended to Christ [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Hebrews, 9:13-14]… Thus, as a guardian of the threshold, the expiatory cow points silently to Christ and his words: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, John, 14:6] (p. 265)

Bosch’s figure of the peddler seems to imply not only melancholia but its traditional companion-idea of terra as well. This assumption seems to be confirmed by the character of the animal symbol which appears on the right of the painting. The cow or ox behind the grated gate is a large figure in a comparatively empty area and as such is much more prominent than any of the small elements on the more crowded left side. It seems to be a symbol which carries considerable weight in the context of the painting, and this animal symbol may express the double idea of the representation in the same way as figure next to it. (pp. 11-12)

Almost any mammal can be used as a symbol of Earth. Yet in Northern art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, cattle are preferred function. In many of the engraved series represendng the the animal of terra is a bull or cow [insert examples]… they nevertheless show that there was a powerful tradition in for relating the cow or the bull to the idea of Earth… [”Terra, from Engelberg Crucifix”, ca. 1200]. Bosch could have found some additional material for this revival in the folklore of his time since the cow and the bull play an important part as symbols of the earth in the old mythological tradition of many nations, among them that of the Teutonic peoples [Philip, 1958, 12:note 29, 13:note 32, Beer, 1957, col. 1262f., 1266f.; Mannhardt, 1858, 37:note 6, 41]. In addition, taurus has always been regarded as one of the three earthly signs in the astrological tradition of the middle ages [Philip, 1958, 13:note 33; Gundel, 1922, 130-135; Eisler, 1946, 91f., 115f., 116: fig. 28; Strauss, 1926, 46:fig. 37]. Bosch must have been familiar with this idea since he certainly knew the popular publications on astrology: his cow, though she does not signify a zodiac sign in this context, is nevertheless modeled on the recumbent half-figure of the taurus com- mon in fifteenth- and sixteenth century astrological illustrations [Philip, 1958, 13:note 34; Eisler, 1946, 91f.; Strauss, 1926, 44:fig. 37, 54:fig. 49; Thiele, 1898, 70]… (pp. 12-13)

Yet, Bosch’s starting point in forming this symbol was probably not so much the connection bos-terra but the connection bos-melancholia. That the linking of the cow with the Melancholic Humor goes back to an old thought is beyond doubt. The idea occurs in the Questiones naturales by Adelard of Bath, a book written in the early twelfth century and printed in Louvain in two editions in 1475 [Müller, 1934, 71]. The date and place of this publication make it very probable that Bosch knew the book… The cow is the first animal named among the ruminants text. Judging from the position of the creature depicted painting it may very well be a ruminant cow. As such the symbol for the Melancholic Humor and this probably was point for using the cow as a symbol for the combined ideas melancholia. melancholia . The quality of being cold was traditionally ascribed to both the Melancholic and the Earth, and it formed the very link between these two concepts [Müller, 1934, 81; Philip, 1958, 11:note 27, 17:note 37]. (pp. 13-17)

The steer, the ox and the aurochs can stand for the idea of Death. This is a familiar and well documented symbolic meaning of the animal [de Mély, 1904, 296f.; Cuttler, 1957, 119, note 72; Laborde, 1923]. Oxen occur in this particular meaning, for instance, in the series of Italian prints which were previously discussed as possible models for study [Philip, 1958, 4:note 7-8, 4:note 10, 7:note 20, 12:note 30, 74:note 157; Galle, ca. 1565; Essling & Müntz, 1902, 168-173; Wierix, ca. 1604]. In the story-telling context of Bosch’s painting the ox undoubtedly signifies Death. (p. 74)

Beyond the gate reclines a large cow, emblematic of the church but usually only in the manger context of the Nativity, where this docile creature is paired with, and contrasted to, a stubborn ass. (p. 259)