Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych

#137

Boat with ten people onboard from Ship of Fools

The ship is, as it were, a symbiosis. Its fragile hull rests, precariously swaying, on the surface of a dark green sea (dark-green being the hue of moral degradation). It is at once the ancient symbol of the church, a refuge of the outcasts of society (an idea widely current in medieval Europe), and the emblem of a free-and-easy local club named the Blau Schuyt (the Blue Boat) (p. 36)

Delevoy, 1960

Bosch

#140

Boat with ten people onboard from Ship of Fools

The boat is being driven about aimlessly; forgetting duty, the steersman has abandoned his helm to take part in the passengers’ game around the cake. The picture’s basic theme is probably inspired by the last chapter but one of Sebastian Brant’s Ship of Fools… [Brant, 1854, 104; de Tolnay, 1965, 26, Demonts, 1919, 6ff] (p. 26)

de Tolnay, 1965

Hieronymus Bosch

#144

Boat with ten people onboard from Ship of Fools

According to her [Adhémar, 1962, 20ff..] this is a satire on drunkards and monks, showing how dissolute clergy let the ship of the Church drift and neglected the salvation of souls. (p. 348)

de Tolnay, 1965

Hieronymus Bosch

#147

Boat with ten people onboard from Ship of Fools

And Sebastian Brant, in his Ship of Fools first printed in 1494 [Brant, 1962], devotes each chapter to the description of a different sort of folly, the absorption in which distracts men from Truth and the attainment of salvation. He imagines them all sailing in a fleet of ships, all adrift in the dark, foolishly given up to merrymaking and carnal delights, careless of ever getting into port. (p. 24)

Combe, 1957

Jérome Bosch

#241

Old tavern from The Pedlar

He leaves behind him a scene of ruin and neglect, the Swan tavern in which his mates disport themselves with wenches (p. 108)

Benesch, 1957

Hieronymus Bosch and the thinking of the late Middle Ages.

#272

Boat with ten people onboard from Ship of Fools

Si lepanneauavait la propriété d’émettre des sons, entendrionsnous des cris désordonnés, apanage d’une telle societe ? Sauf nos quatre bouches ouvertes, rien ne fait supposer que soit rompu le triste silence. Bosch a-t-il voulu nous faire entendre que, entre deux bouchees arrachées a la tarte, ces bouches chanteraient avec accoinpagnement de guitare ? L’une des figures lève haut la main comme pour-accueillir d’autres fous, mais, comme il s’agit de I’un de ceux qui convoitent la tarte, de sa bouche ouverte ne sortiront peut-etre que de sottes revendications. C’est encore la tarte suspendue comme un appat qui distrait le seul de tous ces nautes eberlues qui se soit inquiete de la navigation. Une palette de boulanger, dans ses mains, a d’abord servi de rame. II la laisse maintenant trainer dans I’eau sombre, humiliee de porter cette potee d’ignorants qui bafouent la poesie des flots. Les seuls de ces desequilibres dont on atten-, dait des cris, se disputent en silence. Les levres trop serrees meme pour que s’en echappe un murmure, une femme menace d’une enorme cniche de gres un lourdaud, accroupi, qui projetait de s’attaquer a une grosse fiasque de gervoise, boisson de I’epoque, ou de vin, moins probablement. La bouteille trempe dans I’onde que l’on suppose fralche, malgrd la fievre bouillante qui s’agite dans I’esquif voguant à la déive. (p. 3)

de Boschère, 1947

Jérôme Bosch

#275

Boat with ten people onboard from Ship of Fools

Ces miserables ont dépassé les maniaques de la sottise. On pourrait les nommer des spécialistes ou des récidivistes. En tout cas, Jérôme nous donne ici d’exceptionnelles figurations de déséquilibre mental. Des abandonnés de Dieu oti des sots qui ont perdu le souci de leur salut. (p. 3)

de Boschère, 1947

Jérôme Bosch

#447

Three men in red from Ship of Fools

Three representatives of the cloistered life have abandoned their spiritual duties to join the other revellers. (p. 41)

Gibson, 1973

Hieronymus Bosch

#494

Three men in red from Ship of Fools

Three representatives of the cloistered life have abandoned their spiritual duties to join the other revellers. (p. 30)

Bosing, 1987

Hieronymus Bosch c.1450-1516

#590

Old tavern from The Pedlar

The left side-scene shows a disreputable house, its roof pitched at an awkward angle. The collapsing ridgepole, broken window panes, and sagging shutter, and the washing hung out to dry at the attic window make this sinister tavern a symbol of neglect and squalor. The blackness framed by the door and windows represents the murky background of the love affairs in the fugitive’s libertine past. (p. 258)

Fraenger, 1999

Hieronymus Bosch

#800

Hat on left hand from The Pedlar

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)

Tuttle, 1981

Bosch’s Image of Poverty