Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych – Detail

Het haar door de muts komt in het vers onder de prent van Sinte Reynuyt [van Leyden, ca. 1520-1530, “Het schip Reynuit”] en in een bekende parodie op het Wilhelmus voor als spreekwoordelijke uitdrukking om berooidheid aan te duiden [5]. De muts op het schilderij is een lap, een „sleter”, wat in het lied van Valerius op het standbeeld van Duc d’Alf ook spreekwoordelijk voor een vervallen mensch gebruikt wordt [Valerius, 1942, 75]. (p. 78)

De hoed, dien de man in de hand houdt, lijkt tamelijk overbodig, nu hij zich het hoofd met een lap gedekt heeft. Er bestaat een reeds in de eerste helft der zeventiende eeuw geboekstaafd spreekwoord; een nieuwe hoed verdienen, in de beteekenis van: geld verdienen door iemand aan een vrouw te helpen [Harrebomée, 1912, col. 785]. Wil de schilder te kennen geven, dat de zondaar zoo diep gezonken is, dat hij koppelaarsdiensten bewezen heeft? Wellicht heeft het hoofddeksel meer te maken met de beteekenis van verliefdheid, die in de zestiende eeuw aan de muts werd gehecht. In een referein van Jan van Doesborch komt de uitdrukking „metter mutsen doorreden” voor [Kruyskamp, 1940, 31, no. 11], die door den uitgever een wel wat gewaagde beeldspraak wordt gevonden [Kruyskamp, 1940, 10]. Op het schilderij is echter de hoed of muts doorstoken met een schoenmakerspriem, waar de pikdraad nog aanzit. Dergelijke zonderlinge versiersels yan hoofddeksels, als pijlen en messen, komen bij Bosch meer voor [Glück, 1933, 12]. De priem hier zal wel een symbolische beteekenis hebben: ik vermoed, dat wij een zeer platte phallische woordspeling erin moeten zien, in verband met de obscene beteekenis, die het werkwoord: pinnen, dat in eigenlijken zin een schoenmakersbewerking aanduidt, kan hebben [1]. (pp. 79-80)

Op het schilderij der rederijkers door Jan Steen [Steen, ca. 1670] ziet men een pijp, op de Braspartij van Frans Hals [Hals, ca. 1616-1617] in het Metropolitan Museum te New-York een pijp en een pollepel door hoeden en mutsen gestoken, terwijl het ongunstige van den fluitspeler op het herbergtafereel van Willem Buytenwech [Buytewech, ca. 1591-1624] in het Museum Bredius te ’s-Gravenhage geaccentueerd wordt door de speelkaart, die de man aan zijn muts bevestigd heeft. [Glück, 1933, 12] (p. 80, note 8)

The spinder in the hat held out by the Hearer in the panel at Rotterdam is a traditional symbol of the weaving of the thread of physical life. Only one small strand remains on it, and as Wertheim says, this is probably a sign that the peddler has very little left on earth. Alternatively, in the interpretation of Stein Schneider, the spindle itself is an image of continuing death and rebirth, which implies reincarnation [Wertheim Aymès, 1957, 39; Schneider, 1984, 59f.; Cooper, 1982, 170]. Perhaps Bosch is expressing both ideas. In any case, the gallows on the hill behind the gate and spindle warns us that the pilgrim will suffer spiritual death if his desires lead to his rebirth in the physical world. the gallows on the hill behind the gate and spindle warns us that the pilgrim will suffer spiritual death if his desires lead to his rebirth in the physical world. (p. 165)

The cobbler’s thread and awl stuck in his hat stand for drudgery, for shoddy patchwork and futile toil. In his Eulenspigel engraving of 1520 Lucas van Leyden also shows a hank of yarn and a darning needle stuck in the father’s hat [van Leyden, 1520]… (p. 259)

The left hand, however, flourishes the old hat, seeks a new direction, and moves toward a goal-a symbolic movement that Bosch’s contemporaries would immediately have understood. Berthold von Regensburg attests to the medieval craftsman’s tradition of ceremoniously removing his hat when requesting lodging; here, among the trees, towers a house that we feel lo be the homecomer’s distant goal. His hat, raised as if in greeting, is obviously linked with the house. The gesture of greeting, framed by the tree trunk on the left and a tall pole on the right, is tied to the faraway house by a vertical central axis. This produces a field of purposeful vertical thrusts within which the doffed hat must be taken to symbolize a fervent longing for a fulfillment that beckons from afar-a longing to return home. Thest are the stages the Epistle to the Hebrews cites a: evidence of moral resurgence [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Hebrews, 12:12-13]. (p. 260)

The awl and the tarred thread which are pinned held by the peddler are symbols of his original profession and him as a cobbler, a craft thought to be connected. [Pigler, 1950, 132]. In the popular astrological treatises cobbling or shoemaking the professions belonging to this planet, and a cobbler is also the section of Saturn in the Salone di Padua [Pigler, 1950, 132; Hauber, 1916, 53, 80; Strauss, 1926, 21; Panofsky, Giehlow & Saxl, 1923, 58, pl. XX: fig. 35]. (p. 6)

The peddler’s most prominent attribute is the hat which is so ostentatiously displayed by his outstretched arm. That this hat is the proverbial “new hat earned by a person who made a match” has already been assumed by Enklaar. I think that Enklaar’s idea, although overlooked or rejected by others, is nevertheless correct [Enklaar, 1940, 79, note 5; Philip, 1958, 69:note 145]. The peddler is a procurer, the hat is the emblem for this. The way the two objects, the awl and the pitched thread, are pinned to the felt makes it perfectly clear that the hat is a symbol carrying sexual implications [Enklaar, 1940, 79f.; Philip, 1958, 69:note 146; Meijer, 1946, 4f.; Bax, 1949, 50, 99, 223, 229, note 60; Valentiner & Suida, 1949, 105, no. 71; Anthonisz, 1541; Seligmann, 1953, 101] (p. 69:note 146)

Even the hat which the peddler holds in his hand takes on a meaning connected with Death when seen together with the gate and the animal. These three symbols occur in a clearly demarcated section and form a unit when one looks at them as details appearing dimensional plane [Philip, 1953, 277f.]. As was shown by Bax and again by Vinken, the representation of the hat which is not on the wearer’s head, can signify that its owner is uncovered, i.e. unprotected, in Dutch “buten hoede”, that there is nothing he can do against a certain danger. On the basis of a Bruegel painting Vinken has clearly proved that this danger is Death [Bax, 1949, 224; Bax, 1953, 200; Vinken, 1958, 4]. The hat in Bosch’s representation is thus another symbol pointing to the peddler’s imminent doom. (p. 74)

Acording to Dirk Bax, since the Dutch word hoede means both hat and care or guard, the expression “buten hoede” has a double meaning: “without hat” or “hat off” and “without care” or “off guard.” The man in the Rotterdam tondo is thus shown “off guard” – subject to the beguile- ment of sin – because he is hatless [Bax, 1949, pl. 224]. Bruegel’s Faithless Shepherd shows another figure who both wears and carries a hat [Bruegel, ca. 1600-1624; Stridbeck, 1956, 79]. Bax and Stridbeck agree that this shepherd is shown with his hat off because he is off guard, or neglecting his duty [Stridbeck, 1956, 257]. The second and third blind men in the pathetic procession in Bruegel’s Blind Leading the Blind both have one hat on and one hat off [Bruegel, 1568 (The Blind Leading the Blind)]. Stridbeck believes that these figures are also meant to be interpreted as “without guard,” unable to keep themselves from falling into sin [Stridbeck, 1956, 261]. (p. 95)

The awl that is stuck into the hat of the poor man in the Rotterdam tondo and the purse that he carries reinforce the idea that this man has brought about his own downfall through dissipation. Konrad Renger has associated the awl with laziness – refusing to work to earn one’s living – by comparing it to an engraving by H. Cock that portrays a lazy shoemaker who partakes of a pleasurable pastime, playing his bagpipes, rather than working [Carefree living, ca. 1560]. This lazy man has also stuck his awl into his hat. The purse that the Rotterdam poor man carries indicates that he has not voluntarily accepted Christian poverty, like the Franciscans; such a virtuous individual would have no need of a purse since he would not carry money [Habig, 1973, 37-39, 60-61]. (p. 95)