Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych

[Schu_rmeyer, 1923, 67] le tableau de Bosch serait une illustration de la Blauwe Schuit, mais ce dernier ignore ce qu’est cette _ Barque bleue _. Enklaar [Enklaar, 1933, 37-64, 145- 161, 21, 35-85] se livre à une étude approfondie de cette société, à partir du poème de Jacob van Oestvorcn, Blauwe Scuut, rédigé à la manière d’un statut, en l’an 1413, à l’occasion d’un tournoi organisé par ses membres en Zélande. Elle groupait tous ceux qu’animait la joie de vivre jusqu’à l’excès, qui faisaient fi des conventions et des convenances et qui prisaient plus la folie que la sagesse; elle comptait des membres dans toutes les classes sociales, y compris le clergé; en _taient exclus les voleurs, les assassins, les femmes de mauvaise vie… Plus large qu’une compagnie de carnaval, la Blauwe Schuit .tait une troupe de joyeux compères qui vivaient, en bohémiens, de représentations théâtrales parodiant la société et les événements importants. Son existence est signalée dans plusieurs villes des Dix-sept Provinces : sûrement à Anvers et à Utrccht, sans doute à Bréda et à Nimègue et, l’auteur le suppose, aussi à Bois-le-Duca. Des sociétés analogues ont existé en France, notamment la gilde des _ Enfants-sans-Souci _ à Paris. Le choix du bateau comme emblème, de même que celui de la couleur bleue, reste assez obscur. L’auteur pense reconnaître une Blauwe Schuit dans le tableau du Louvre. Les personnages se retrouveraient, selon lui, dans le poème de J. van Oestvorcn, sauf peut-être le fou lui-même. Pour étayer son hypothèse, il signale d’autres œuvres, de Bosch ou exécutées d’après cet artiste, qui reçoivent une interprétation plausible quand on y voit des représentations similaires : le Concert dans l’œuf (Senlis, collection Pontalba) et une série de gravures éditées par Jérôme Gock. L’une d’elles porte une inscription indiquant le nom de la barque : Die blau schuyte. (p.22)

Une autre, représentant une écaille voguant sur l’eau, avec tout un équipage [Lafond, 1914, 100], pourrait être mise en rapport avec la société joyeuse de Lyon, intitulée _ La Coquille _. Le tableau serait un symbole de la Blauwe Schuit et non une figuration réaliste car l’auteur pense que la compagnie participait aux carnavals avec des bateaux sur chars plutôt qu’avec de véritables bateaux. En effet, dans Varende Luyden [Enklaar, 1937, 78-79; “Carrus Navalis in Schönbartbuch”, 16th century], il signale un manuscrit conservé à la Bibliothèque universitaire de Hambourg, du X V Ie siècle, le Schônbartbuch, où sont rapportées les mascarades annuelles des bouchers de Nuremberg fêtant le retour du printemps. Une miniature montre un bateau bleu, monté sur roues et tiré à l’aide de cordes. Il est attaqué. par des hommes en armure et défendu par des personnages fantastiques, entre autres par des fous. Une oriflamme rouge avec croissant de lune le surmonte. L’auteur pense que le problème est définitivement résolu : la Blauwe Schuit était un carrus navalis. L’image de la barque figurant l’association de personnes partageant le même but ou le même sort est familière au moyen âge. L’auteur en cite plusieurs exemples, entre autres la Barque de l’Eglise, l’Arche de Noé, le voyage sur mer de sainte Dymphne. (pp.22-23)

Tree mast with owl from Ship of Fools

Vermeylen [Vermeylen, 1939, 16-18] partage cette opinion. Il pense également que le mât pourrait être du noisetier, arbre qui dans la littérature populaire a reçu une signification symbolique, mais M. A. Lawalrée, directeur de laboratoire au Jardin botanique de l’Etat, Bruxelles, le nie : le mât et le buisson n’en ont ni les feuilles ni le port; il s’agirait plutôt d’aulne (communication orale du 27 janvier 1961). S’il s’agissait tout de même dans l’esprit du peintre de coudrier (les deux arbres se ressemblent), Delevoy [Delevoy, 1960, 31] y verrait une représentation symbolique de la bêtise. (p.23)

Celle-ci pourrait être germanique et remonter à l’époque de Tacite, quand défilaient de nombreux cortèges de printemps, avec un bateau sur un chariot, en l’honneur de la déesse Nerthus. Ces festivités païennes auraient survécu pendant le moyen âge: on pourrait signaler au X I I e siècle l’arrivée, à Maastricht et dans les Pays-Bas du sud, d’un vaisseau sur roues, venant d’Aix-la-Chapelle, qui mit tout le pays en émoi et fut la cause d’excès déplorés par l’abbé. Rudolfus de Saint-Trond (+ 1138), auteur de la Gesla Abbalum Trudonensiutn. Ce fut un événement de caractère social, essentiellement dirigé contre les tisserands, forcés de traîner et de garder le char durant tout le périple. Cependant le professeur P. Bonenfant [Bonenfant, 1958, 99-109] combat la thèse de l’origine antique de la _ nef des tisserands _ et constate que les bateaux de carnaval n’étaient pas encore connus au XIIc siècle. (p.23)

#15

Le Muse_e national du Louvre, Paris

Bax [Bax, 1949, 189-196] donne du tableau une description détaillée; il estime que le buisson, l’homme à l’oie et l’homme vomissant ne se trouvent pas dans le bateau mais sur la rive voisine. Il étudie la thèse d’Enklaar sur la Blauwe Schuit et pense que les membres de cette société n’étaient pas des bohémiens mais d’honnêtes citoyens, appartenant entre autres à la gilde des bouchers. Il rejette l’hypothèse selon laquelle le tableau serait une illustration de la Blauwe Schuit; la barque d’ailleurs n’y est pas bleue. (p.24)

Adhe_mar, 1962

#35

Deux primitifs néerlandais au Musée du Louvr

La Nef des fous transporte au pays de Narragonie de grossiers paysans, des riches égoïstes, des docteurs bavards et des moines gourmands; mais on n’y châtie plus leurs vices : on s’en moque; on ne les nomme même plus des vices : ce sont des défauts, presque de simples « ridicules ». Voici venir le sceptique et humoriste Éloge de la folie d’Erasme [Erasmus, 1913], avec son persiflage à la moderne et son paradoxe, qui n’est plus pour les masses : le bonheur, dit-il, que goûtent les mortels de tout état est en proportion de la puissance qu’exerce la folie sur leurs âmes. C’est déjà la philosophie de La Fontaine [Jean de La Fontaine’s philosophy, 17th century]: une claire vue des choses et leur acceptation. (p. 10)

Demonts, 1919

#38

Bosch and the Narrenschiff: a problem in relationships

…Enklaar [Enklaar, 1933, 37-64, 145-161] in 1933 published a study of a late medieval society that organized burlesque carnivals and took the name of Blaue Schuit, or Blue Boat, following a poem of 1413 by Jacob van Oestvoren of Zeeland. Enklaar [van Oestvoren, 1413; Enklaar, 1937] developed further in 1937 the idea of a Society of the Blue Boat whose bohemian members came from all classes, including the clergy. As evidence that the society participated in carnivals with a boat mounted on a wagon as its entry, he cited a sixteenth-century manuscript from Nuremberg, the Schbnbartbuch [”Carrus Navalis in Schönbartbuch”, 16th century], which describes the annual masquerades celebrating the return of spring. One of its miniatures, illustrated by Enklaar, shows a blue boat on wheels pulled by ropes; the boat flies a pennant with a crescent on it [Enklaar, 1937; “Carrus Navalis in Schönbartbuch”, 1908]. Attacked by armed men, the boat is defended by a fantastically dressed crew. (p.272)

Cuttler, 1969

#85

The Lunar Symbolism of The Ship of Fools by Hieronymus Bosch

Enklaar [Enklaar, 1956, 55f] has suggested that Bosch’s painting was inspired by Jacob van Oestvoren’s poem of 1413, De Blauwe Schuit (‘The Blue Boat’), which was composed in the form of a charter for a ‘Blue Boat’ Society, in which people of various social classes gathered together for the purpose of common recreation consisting of the organization of theatrical performances, music-making and dancing [Enklaar, 1956, 44-47] . In support of this hypothesis, Enklaar cites an engraving from the workshop of Hieronymus Cock, which was in all probability executed after a missing work by Bosch [Enklaar, 1956, 84f; van der Heyden, 1559] . It depicts a boat with the inscription, Blauwe Schuit and figures of music-makers like those in The Ship of Fools. (p.47)

Boczkowska, 1971

#105

Coats of arms on the tent from An Allegory of Intemperance

Coats of arms on the tent (Yale) or wine tankard (Prado) point to titled nobles and the tradition of the courtly gardens of love. This class satire on the part of Bosch is reinforced in the Seven Deadly Sins [Bosch, ca. 1505-1510] through the presence of foppish archaic costume as well as a costumed fool (with ass’s ears and coxcomb, like the fool in Massys’s III-Matched Pair) [Massys, ca. 1520-1525]. (p.630)

Silver, 2001

God in the Details: Bosch and Judgment(s)

#196

Jester from Ship of Fools

Alleen de man met den langen stok zou, om zijn fraaien Bourgondischen hoed, van hooger stand kunnen zijn, één…van den heren voert, ridders of knechts, die lien of lant vernetten om ghelt in anders hant,… ende die dobbelen of drincken, singhen, springhen ende clincken, ende die wildelic ghebaren, ende die haer renten dubbelt vertaren,… ende die ghaeme belleren mit sconen vrouwen [Verwijs, 1871, 94-95:vs. 12-35] (p. 148)

Enklaar, 1933

De Blaue Schult

#213

Jester from Ship of Fools

Enklaar, 1937

Varende Luyden. Studiën over de middeleeuwsche groepen van onmaatschappelijken in de Nederlanden.

#227

The Van Eycks and their followers

It is a pedlar who, likely enough, had killed the cat and stolen the skin, for I am sorry to say that he was a thief, and is painted at a moment of crime. What is he doing with two hats? The one in his hand has just been stolen from the hatless and otherwise occupied individual in the background. It is, indeed, a fisherman’s hat and has his float and cast pinned on to it. The very long fishing-rod leans up against the Swan Inn in the background. The thief is hurrying away unobserved, for the barmaid is being kissed by a soldier and the old woman in the kitchen is probably poor-sighted. An owl and a dog alone take notice of the crime. Inexplicable by me is the curious fact that Bosch has given to his thief the most refined face he ever painted… A thief-pedlar, however, might have been something less of an aristocrat. (pp. 341-342)

Conway, 1921

#257

Coats of arms on the tent from An Allegory of Intemperance

The coat of arms on top of the tent can be identified… as being that of the de Bergh family in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and The Hague [Renesse, 1900, 254; Rietstap, 1861, 172]. Brans [Brans, 1948, 44] believes the coat of arms is that of the young man shown in the tent and that it alludes to the corruption of nobility. (p. 208)

Detroit Institute Arts, 1960

Flanders in the fifteenth century: Art and civilization

#305

Couple in a pink tent with clothes on shore from An Allegory of Intemperance

The foreground scene at the bottom of the panel treats the theme of Lust in a manner similar to that of the exemplum in The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things. On the bank near the water a man and woman, whose style of dress suggests that they belong to the middle classes, have withdrawn into a furnished, pale red tent for a tête-à-tête. On the ground in front of the tent entrance are wooden clogs, a hat in the Burgundian style on top of a belt, and a section of trumpet. Further items of clothing, probably belonging to the swimmers, are draped over the withered half of an otherwise leafy tree and scattered on the ground nearby. (p. 192)

Fischer, 2016

Jheronimus Bosch

#322

Old tavern from The Pedlar

By around 1500 the motif and theme of the evil inn, encountered repeatedly in the late Middle Ages, had condensed into a symbol of all that was bad for the civic elite and the aristocracy… The evil inn motif is also found in… the Pedlar… (p. 114)

Fischer, 2016

Jheronimus Bosch

#328

Vagrants are another common subject in his work, as in The Pedlar [Maroto, 2001, 41-46; Vandenbroeck, 2002, 308-340; Vandenbroeck, 2001, 49-64]… At least two phenomena came into play here. First, there was a strong socio-economic polarization, which resulted in large numbers of unemployed, wanderers and poor; secondly, there was the emergence of a middle class ideology characterized by such required norms as diligence, thrift, sobriety, stability, indoor work, domestic life and social ‘conversation’ (or civility). Consequently, the attacks on those who represented the diametric opposite of these values became more vehement: such people had no place in the estates of the realm and were generally portrayed as poor through their own fault, and lecherous, dim, foolish and antisocial. (p. 97)

#329

Following another tradition, the poor, wandering itinerant, who likewise a social outcast, is also – as presented on the outside of The Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515] or on the Rotterdam Pedlar – a metaphor for the good, repentant sinner… Bosch was absorbed with the notion of standing ‘out-side society’. He regarded it as an extraordinary position, either for better or for worse. To Bosch, life in the fringes was folly, negative in the case of riffraff but positive in the case of the ‘fools in God’, the hermits he depicted as holy ascetics in the Byzantine tradition – and perhaps there was folly also in the ‘madness’ of the artist, madness sublimated in his fanciful creations. There is an intriguing paradox in Bosch’s view of mankind and society. He condemns outsiders on the one hand but also praises and promotes a ‘sublimated’ marginality under the character of the most austere, ‘extremist’ anchorites from early Christianity, who are seen as self-maintaining (not dependent upon others, unlike beggars), wise, virtuous, ascetic and courageous against the devil’s violence and sexual assaults. The constant presence of threats in Bosch’s worldview goes some way to explaining the contradiction: the moral and spiritual integrity of the individual was liable to attack by his own impulses, rooted in sensuality, by the external world and by supernatural forces of evil. Fear both of material ruin and of spiritual damage was a basic element of bourgeois culture around 1500. The ideal of utilitarian wisdom became an obsession with self-preservation. The self was regarded as an extremely weak entity, constantly obliged to resist and remain firm. Hence the admiration for stern anchorites who were strong, courageous and self-contained. (p. 98-99)

#331

Bosch endorsed the ideology of an urban middle class of craftsmen and small producers, for whom ‘economy’ was also a moral issue. This was certainly not a capitalist vision, although the emphasis on reason and work (expressed inversely by Bosch – the rejection of laziness and wastefulness) and the denial of prodigality and other forms of impulsive behaviour were helping to prepare the way for capitalist discourse. Bosch’s moderate view is manifest in his depictions of the pedlar on the outer wings of The Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515] and in another, dismembered triptych [Hartau, 2005, 305-338] on the front side of which were The Ship of Fools and The Allegory of Intemperance on the left and The Death of the Miser on the right, and the exterior of which was the Rotterdam Pedlar. (p. 99)

#332

Bosch endorsed the ideology of an urban middle class of craftsmen and small producers, for whom ‘economy’ was also a moral issue. This was certainly not a capitalist vision, although the emphasis on reason and work (expressed inversely by Bosch – the rejection of laziness and wastefulness) and the denial of prodigality and other forms of impulsive behaviour were helping to prepare the way for capitalist discourse. Bosch’s moderate view is manifest in his depictions of the pedlar on the outer wings of The Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515, “The Haywain Triptych”] and in another, dismembered triptych [Hartau, 2005, 305-338] on the front side of which were The Ship of Fools and The Allegory of Intemperance on the left and The Death of the Miser on the right, and the exterior of which was the Rotterdam Pedlar. (p. 99)

Man on a barrel with five skinny men in the waters from An Allegory of Intemperance

#333

Bosch endorsed the ideology of an urban middle class of craftsmen and small producers, for whom ‘economy’ was also a moral issue. This was certainly not a capitalist vision, although the emphasis on reason and work (expressed inversely by Bosch – the rejection of laziness and wastefulness) and the denial of prodigality and other forms of impulsive behaviour were helping to prepare the way for capitalist discourse. Bosch’s moderate view is manifest in his depictions of the pedlar on the outer wings of The Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515, “The Haywain Triptych”] and in another, dismembered triptych [Hartau, 2005, 305-338] on the front side of which were The Ship of Fools and The Allegory of Intemperance on the left and The Death of the Miser on the right, and the exterior of which was the Rotterdam Pedlar. (p. 99)

Man on his deathbed with a chest from Death and the Miser

#334

Bosch endorsed the ideology of an urban middle class of craftsmen and small producers, for whom ‘economy’ was also a moral issue. This was certainly not a capitalist vision, although the emphasis on reason and work (expressed inversely by Bosch – the rejection of laziness and wastefulness) and the denial of prodigality and other forms of impulsive behaviour were helping to prepare the way for capitalist discourse. Bosch’s moderate view is manifest in his depictions of the pedlar on the outer wings of The Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515, “The Haywain Triptych”] and in another, dismembered triptych [Hartau, 2005, 305-338] on the front side of which were The Ship of Fools and The Allegory of Intemperance on the left and The Death of the Miser on the right, and the exterior of which was the Rotterdam Pedlar. (p. 99)

Couple in a pink tent with clothes on shore from An Allegory of Intemperance

#350

Bosch endorsed the ideology of an urban middle class of craftsmen and small producers, for whom ‘economy’ was also a moral issue. This was certainly not a capitalist vision, although the emphasis on reason and work (expressed inversely by Bosch – the rejection of laziness and wastefulness) and the denial of prodigality and other forms of impulsive behaviour were helping to prepare the way for capitalist discourse. Bosch’s moderate view is manifest in his depictions of the pedlar on the outer wings of The Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515, “The Haywain Triptych”] and in another, dismembered triptych [Hartau, 2005, 305-338] on the front side of which were The Ship of Fools and The Allegory of Intemperance on the left and The Death of the Miser on the right, and the exterior of which was the Rotterdam Pedlar. (p. 99)

Coats of arms on the tent from An Allegory of Intemperance

#352

The coat of arms on the roof suggests that these revellers belong to an afnuent or noble family. (p. 298)

Lammertse, 2017

Hieronymus Bosch: The pilgrimage of life triptych

#380

Koldeweij, Vandenbroeck & Vermet, 2001

The rejection of enjoyment and lust is expressed in Bosch’s work in themes like the Allegory of Gluttony (and Lechery) and the Ship of Fools (originally together on one panel); Shrove Tuesday, Singers in an Egg [Follower of Jheronimus Bosch, ca. 1561], Mock Tournament on the Ice [Follower of Pieter Huys, ca. 1560] and Tavern Scene – all of which only survive in the form of copies; the drawings of the Tree-Man [Bosch, ca. 1505] and the Witches [Bosch, 15th century] (who may also represent people celebrating Shrove Tuesday); and the Blue Ship [van der Heyden, 1559] and Merrymakers Sailing in a Mussel Shell [van der Heyden, 1562], which survive in the form of prints… They tell us how human beings fall into such misbehaviour when they fail to resist the blandishments of their senses [Badius, 1502; Follower of Jheronimus Bosch, ca. 1555-1575]. (p. 123ff)

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#381

Man on a barrel with five skinny men in the waters from An Allegory of Intemperance

The rejection of enjoyment and lust is expressed in Bosch’s work in themes like the Allegory of Gluttony (and Lechery) and the Ship of Fools (originally together on one panel); Shrove Tuesday, Singers in an Egg [Follower of Jheronimus Bosch, ca. 1561, “Concert in the egg”], Mock Tournament on the Ice [Follower of Pieter Huys, ca. 1560, “Grotesque Duel on the Ice”] and Tavern Scene – all of which only survive in the form of copies; the drawings of the Tree-Man [Bosch, ca. 1505, “The Tree man”] and the Witches [Bosch, 15th century, “Sorcières et monstres (Witches and monsters)”] (who may also represent people celebrating Shrove Tuesday); and the Blue Ship [van der Heyden, 1559, “Die Blau Schuyte (Ship of Fools)”] and Merrymakers Sailing in a Mussel Shell [van der Heyden, 1562, “Merrymakers in a mussel shell”], which survive in the form of prints… They tell us how human beings fall into such misbehaviour when they fail to resist the blandishments of their senses [Badius, 1502; Follower of Jheronimus Bosch, ca. 1555-1575, “Shrovetide and Lent”]. (p. 123ff)

Koldeweij, Vandenbroeck & Vermet, 2001

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#382

Couple in a pink tent with clothes on shore from An Allegory of Intemperance

Koldeweij, Vandenbroeck & Vermet, 2001

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#424

Hat on left hand from The Pedlar

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)

Enklaar, 1940

Uit Uilenspiegel’s kring

#427

Swan flag on tavern from The Pedlar

Het uithangbord met den zwaan geeft te kennen, dat het huis een kroeg is. „Een zwaantje” is tot op den huidigen dag een spreekwoordelijke uitdrukking voor een herberg [D’Overflacquée, 1932, 158]. De oorsprong van die benaming ligt in het feit, dat in sommige gewesten, bijv. in Brabant, landsheerlijke rechtplaatsen door een zwaan aangeduid werden. In Brabant en in het Kleefsche dankte dit symbool zijn ontstaan aan de pretentie, die beide vorstenhuizen lieten gelden, dat zij van den Zwaanridder zouden afstammen [Winkel, 1922, 346, 349]. Een afbeelding van dit rechtsteeken ziet men o.a. op de achttiende-eeuwsche afbeelding van het rechthuis te Oisterhout door Andries Schoemaker, wiens handschrift thans in de verzameling van het Provinciaal Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen in Noord-Brabant te ’s-Hertogenbosch bewaard wordt [Nahuys, 1888, 1548ff., 529ff.]. Het is bekend, dat bij een rechtplaats in de Middeleeuwen een kroeg onmisbaar was [Enklaar, 1922, 87; Schoemaker, ca. 1710-1735], en het is dus begrijpelijk, dat het embleem afzakte tot uithangteeken [Lennep & Gouw, 1868, 203ff.]. (p. 80)

Enklaar, 1940

Uit Uilenspiegel’s kring

#483

Knightly jousting objects, draped cloth with winged figure from Death and the Miser

de Tolnay saw in the armor a social satire against the nobility [de Tolnay, 1937, 27]; for Baldass the discarded weapons indicated not only that the dying man was a knight but that gold accomplishes more than bravery and courage [Baldass, 1943, 236]. (p. 18)

Hand & Wolff, 1986

Early Netherlandish Painting

#546

Coats of arms on the tent from An Allegory of Intemperance

The coat-of-arms on the tent is that of the Bergh family, eminent in ‘S-Hertogenbosch and in The Hague. (p. 93)

Cinotti, 1966

The complete paintings of Bosch

#734

Knightly jousting objects, draped cloth with winged figure from Death and the Miser

…the objects strewn in the foreground, notably articles of clothing and weaponry, have lacked a convincing explanation. They have generally been considered as either allusions to the miser’s earlier life or as somehow related to the sin of avarice [Eisler, 1977, 66-69]. Tolnay suggested that the weaponry was included as a social satire against the nobility, while various other authors thought it simply alluded to an earlier time of rank and power in his life [de Tolnay, 1937, 27; Elst, 1946, 104; Combe, 1957, 24; Baldass, 1968, 41; Reuterswärd, 1970, 266; Gibson, 1983, 46; de Tervarent, 1945, 45]. Philip interpreted the coat as an allusion to Saint Martin’s generosity, in contrast to the miser’s greed [Philip, 1969, 34]. None of these explanations consider the objects indispensable to the central meaning of the painting. Yet their prominent position and their very nature suggest that they provide the clue to the specific economic abuse practiced by the miser. Bosch’s comment would hardly have been lost on his contemporaries. It has been misunderstood by the modern viewer since the economic conditions that evoked it are obsolete, in spite of currently escalating interest rates. For the objects suggest that Bosch’s miser was guilty of the sin of usury [Walker, 1975, 127] (p. 33).

Morganstern, 1982

The Pawns in Bosch’s” Death and the Miser”

#884