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)

#10

Le sens amer de l’œuvre est mis en relief par Brion [Brion, 1938, 24], qui, replaçant la Nef des Fous dans l’ensemble de l’œuvre de Bosch, y reconnaît _ un résumé de toute l’humanité. Une société d’insensés embarqués dans une barque imbécile, sans voile et sans gouvernail. Une barque qui porte en elle le naufrage; avec ses passagers buvants et hurlants, affairés à des sottises, perdus dans leurs bruyantes querelles. Jamais le pessimisme des satiristes les plus douloureux n’aurait inventé cette synthèse de l’absurdité de la vie _. De même, pour van den Bossche [van den Bossche, 1944, 14, 17, pl. III], le tableau est la stigmatisation de la sottise, cause unique du mal et que Bosch décèle partout. (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

#19

Le Muse_e national du Louvre, Paris

En 1959, Baldass [Baldass, 1959, 16, 226-227] accepte de voir l’origine du thème dans la société carnavalesque flamande De Blauwe Schuit et lui reconnaît un parallèle littéraire dans la célèbre Narrenschiff de Sébastien Brant. (p.25)

Adhe_mar, 1962

#20

Le Muse_e national du Louvre, Paris

Delevoy [Delevoy, 1960, 31, 36-37, ill. 26, ill 28] voit dans le bateau un leitmotiv de la littérature didactique depuis le X IV e siècle et le tableau serait une symbiose : la barque est un ancien symbole de l’Eglise, refuge des proscrits, elle est aussi l’emblème de la société de la Blauwe Schuit. (p. 25)

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

#137

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

#156

Ontcijfering van Jeroen Bosch

Een geleerde, op wiens uitvoerige en scherpzinnige behandeling van het schilderij onze studie voortbouwt, ziet er een weergave in van een Vastenavondgezelschap in een Blauwe Schuit, waarbij Bosch zich niet streng aan de werkelijkheid gehouden heeft. Een echte Blauwe Schuit dreef nl. niet op het water, maar werd op wielen voortgetrokken. Hij was bemand met leden van een spotgilde, die de samenleving en haar instellingen parodieerden. Zij waren onmaatschappelijke bohémiens [Enklaar, 1937, 66]. (p. 189)

Bax, 1949

#157

Ontcijfering van Jeroen Bosch

In Nijmegen gingen in 1545 en 1550 „schipgesellen „mytter blauwer schuyten rond op Vastenavond en kregen daarvoor een beloning van het stadsbestuur [Sassen, 1885, 174] en in Bergen-op-Zoom namen in het eind der 15de en de eerste helft der 16de eeuw de „Gesellen met de Blauscuyte deel aan de grote processie, de zgn. „Cruystogte of „Cruysommeganck, die op Zondag na Beloken Pasen door de straten trok. Hun schuitwagen werd door de gemeente onderhouden [Levelt, 1924, 44]. In beide gevallen heeft de bemanning van de Blauwe Schuit voorde pret gezorgd, maar zij bestond niet uit onmaatschappelijke bohémiens, daar een stadsbestuur zulke mensen niet zal erkend hebben. Waarschijnlijk hebben zij de gedragingen van losbandige pretmakers nagebootst, hetzij alleen voor de leut, hetzij om tevens te hekelen. De Neurenbergers, die met een „HöU in de gedaante van een blauwgeverfde schuitwagen op Vastenavond rondtrokken, hekelden daarbij geen andere pretmakers, het was hun louter om de jolijt te doen, maar ook in hen mag men geen maatschappelijke bohémiens zien: zij waren immers gezellen van het Beenhouwersgilde [Drescher, 1908, VIII]. (pp. 189-190)

Bax, 1949

#199

Jester from Ship of Fools

Een bijzondere figuur op het schilderij is de nar, die een weinig afzijdig geplaatst is en in zijn nietigheid den indruk maakt ook van andere afmetingen dan de rest van het gezelschap te zijn. Ik vind in het gedicht van Jacop van Oestvoren geen bepaald equivalent van zijn persoon, tenzij men op hem de regels wil toepassen, waarin de dichter voorschrijft, dat slechts hij, die na zelfonderzoek meer tot dwaasheid dan tot wijsheid zich aangetrokken voelt, in het gilde mag treden [Kalff, 1884, 471]. Toch is de nar bij Camavalsgezelschappen uit den aard der zaak een gewichtig persoon geweest. Op andere afbeeldingen… vinden wij hem dan ook aanwezig, zelfs min of meer als hoofdpersoon. Dit stemt overeen met een bekende plaats bij Rabelais, waar Pantagruel den vagebond Panurge overhaalt, bij de oplossing van het vraagstuk, of hij al dan niet trouwen zal, den raad van een nar in te winnen. „Bij de rolverdeeling onder de comedianten — zegt hij — zien wij de persoon van den nar en van den potsenmaker altijd voorgesteld door den meest geroutineerden en knapsten speler van hun troep” [Verwijs, 1871, 100]. Dit mag men zeker ook wel veronderstellen bij de gezelschappen van de Blauwe Schuit, als deze dilettanten hun Vastenavondskluchten opvoerden. (p. 149)

Enklaar, 1933

De Blaue Schult

#216

Jester from Ship of Fools

Enklaar, 1937

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

#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

#269

Hanging goose (pig or sheep feet) on the tree mast from Ship of Fools

Sous I’oriflamme, dans un maigre bouquet de feuilles, le peintre a place, une botte de pieds de mouton, friandise pour les contemporains du peintre, jamais absente des Pays de Cocagne flamands [Bruegel, 1567]. (p. 2)

de Boschère, 1947

Jérôme Bosch

#272

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

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

#305

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)

#355

Hieronymus Bosch: The pilgrimage of life triptych

Two traditions are of importance in interpreting the merrymakers in the boat in particular. First of all, the branches, as well as the cherries on the plank that serves as a makeshift table, clearly show that these people have set out on a pleasure trip. Especially in the spring, highborn youngsters amused themselves by flirting and making music while sailing around in boats decorated with foliage. This happened in real life, but it was also portrayed in numerous book of hours as illustrations of the month of May. Those depictions, however, invariably show elegantly dressed boys and girls, whose polished manners cannot be compared with the debauched doings of Bosch’s figures. Merrymaking monks and nuns never appear in such scenes [Bax, 1949, 194; de Bruyn, 2001, 80-83; Silver, 2006, 243-252; Ilsink et al., 2016, 212] yet they are part of the other tradition from which this painting seems to derive. Revellers in boats or barges who flout the norms and values of society are known from countless sixteenth-century poems, prints and religious processions. Again and again, social norms were ridiculed by displays of dissolute behaviour, by showing how not to do it, by acting out the topsy-turvy world. For those receptive to the message, it was immediately clear where such behaviour would finally lead – to perdition [Pleij, 1979; Lammertse & van der Coelen, 2015, 62]. (p. 298)

Lammertse, 2017

#375

The close relationship that existed between Hieronymus Bosch and Alart Duhameel is also plain from all manner of details in Duhameel’s prints, such as the fool with the spoon in his hat sitting below a fountain [du Hameel, ca. 1478-1506, “The lovers with a fool by a fountain”]. This figure clearly belongs to the same margins of society as the fool with his stick and cap in the Ship of Fools (Louvre), who, keeping himself apart from the merrymakers, sips from his drinking vessel, and the ‘punished’ fool in the Tabletop of the Seven Deadly Sins (Prado}, whose behind is beaten with a large spoon [Bosch, ca. 1505-1510, “Death, from The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things”]. (p. 14)

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#380

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)

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#382

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

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#388

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

The different objects, especially the weapons, proved more difficult to identify. Anne Morganstern has demonstrated in a short but persuasive study that the dying man was a pawnbroker [Morganstern, 1982]… A copy (?) after Bosch – the Seven Deadly Sins in a Globe Shell [Bosch, ca. 1505-1510] illustrates Avaritia by means of a pawnbroker, surrounded by clothes, a sword and coins, who is about to take a belt from an old lady. Consequently, the dying miser is not just guilty of avarice in general, but of the specific sub-form of usury, which in Bosch’s time was considered profoundly wicked. Requiring the payment of interest or the pledging of security was contrary to the teachings of the Church. (pp. 137 -138)

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#389

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

Charging interest effectively meant selling time, which belonged to God alone, and produced the harvest of ‘sterile’ money. The prohibition on interest was frequently circumvented by means of the cambio seco – the ‘dry exchange’ – in which the usurer kept the bill of exchange. The documents in the chest belonging to Bosch’s dying man, one of which is held up ostentatiously by one of the demons, may represent bills of that kind. In other words, the man is guilty of a form of usury that the Church continued to condemn in the late Middle Ages, by which time it was beginning to adopt a more flexible attitude towards other rapidly developing economic practices. Moreover, Bosch may have been portraying a clandestine pawnbroker, as the goods are located in an ordinary bedroom rather than a pawnbroker’s shop. (pp.138-139)

Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete Paintings and Drawings

#403

Die Altniederländische Malerei, 5

Enklaar believes there may be a connection between The Ship of Fools and the carnival societies known as ‘The Blue Boat’. (pp. 99-100)

Friedländer, 1927

#405

De ommegang met het wagenschip

Een merkwaardige en geheimzinnig aandoende verbeelding van de Blauwe Schuit vinden wij op een allegorie van den schilder Jeroen Bosch, wiens werk vooral door de Jezu eten zeer werd bewonderd. (p. 29)

de Haas, 1942

#412

De ommegang met het wagenschip

Evenals alle kerkelijke verbeeldingen, die de stichting van het volk door sprekende allegorie n ten doel hadden, is ook op Jeroen Bosch’ paneeltje de Blauwe Schuit als schuitzonder- meer voorgesteld, juist als in de preekenbundel van von Kaisersberg [von Kaysersberg, 1511] en juist zoo handhaaft ook Bosch het boomzinnebeeld. (p. 29)

de Haas, 1942

#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

#471

Bosch made the image more profound by showing the pilgrim in the grip of a spiritual crisis. But whether the pilgrim will turn away from the tavern to pass through the gate is as doubtful as the issue of the struggle between angel and devils in the Death of the Miser… This ambiguity of the Rotterdam Wayfarer exemplifies perfectly the pessimism of Bosch’s age concerning the human condition (p. 106)

Gibson, 1973

Jester from Ship of Fools

#503

The disreputable nature of the boat is conveyed, finally, by the guzzling fool in the rigging. For centuries the court jester or fool had been permitted to satirize the morals and manners of the society, and it is in this capacity that he appears in prints and paintings from the midfifteenth century on, distinguished by his cap adorned with ass’s ears and carrying a baton topped with a small replica of his own vacantly grinning features. He frequently cavorts among the revellers and lovers, as in Lust scene of the Prado “Tabletop” [Bosch, ca. 1505-1510], pointing to the folly of the lewd behaviour. (p. 30)

Bosing, 1987

Hieronymus Bosch c.1450-1516

#518

Hieronymus Bosch c.1450-1516

Bosch made the image more profound by showing the pilgrim in the grip of a spiritual crisis. But whether the pilgrim will turn away from the tavern to pass through the gate is as doubtful as the issue of the struggle between angel and devils in the Death of the Miser [Bosch, ca. 1485-1490]… This ambiguity of the Rotterdam Wayfarer exemplifies perfectly the pessimism of Bosch’s age concerning the human condition (p. 63)

Bosing, 1987

#533

The complete paintings of Bosch

The subject is a satire on the corruption of society and the clergy, not without references to the folklore and the literature of the period. (no. 92)

Cinotti, 1966

#534

The complete paintings of Bosch

The motif of the ship of the pleasure-seekers was a very familiar one in the Flanders of the fifteenth century [Enklaar, 1933; Bax, 1949]: the blue boat, laden with a libertine party, was celebrated as early as 1413 in Jacob van Oestvoren’s poem De Blauwe Scuut [van Oestvoren, 1413]; it used to appear in the carnival parades of Brabant. and gave its name to a brotherhood found in several Dutch towns, devoted to feasting and merrymaking [Enklaar, 1933]. But Bosch’s boat is not painted blue. Moreover, Sebastian Brant’s satirical poem Narrenschiff was published in German and in Latin in 1494 [Brant, 1944; Brant, 1962]; the 1498 edition contains many engravings, in no way related. however, to Bosch’s painting, as claimed by Demonts and Combe [Demonts, 1919; Combe, 1946]; the highest expression of the theme is found in Erasmus Praise of Folly [Erasmus, 1913]. The connection with Brant’s work (Demonts), accepted at one point also by Tolnay [de Tolnay, 1937], would provide a date post quem, but the types of the friar, of the nun and of other characters appear to have been inspired by Oestvoren’s poem (Enklaar). (pp. 92-93)

Cinotti, 1966

#731

Old man in green and chest from Death and the Miser

In der Zeit der Erweiterung des Horizonts mittels seetüchtiger Schiffe(Entdeckung Amerikas) [Wilhelm, 1990, 241:no. 589; Brant, 1494, 66:v. 53-56;] rüsteten Brant und Bosch ihre Flotte der «Narrenschiffe» auf. Erst durch den Zusammenhang mit den «Faulen» bekommendiese leichten Gefährte der «Narrenschiffe» ihren eigentlichen Tiefgang. Hinter dieser Satire wird ein Begriff des Menschen sichtbar, der das «leichte Lebern» der Müßiggänger nicht als Schicksal begreift, sondern in den Zusammenhang von Arbeit und Leistung stellt [Heimann, 1990]. Auf dem Weg zurmodernen Leistungsgesellschaft wollten sich die Frühhumanisten und (Vor-)Reformatoren von den Müßiggängern (falschen Bettlern, unkeuschen Beginen, faulen Studenten usw.) trennen, deren Glück als «zu leicht» empfunden wurde. Die Ausgangsfrage «Wie kommt der Narr aufs Schiff?» ist damit beantwortbar, denn der Narr bildet gleichsam den Hiatus zwischen «Otium» und «Negotium» (Müßiggang und Handel). Eine aktive Gesellschaftmarginalisierte ihre sich treiben lassenden, vagabundierenden«Nichtsnutze», setzte sie (literarisch) auf die «Narrenschiffe der Müßiggängern(«naves pereuntis») [Kasten, 1992]. Dabei sollte jedoch nicht vergessen werden, daßdie Vorreformatoren die Habgier genauso kritisierten wie den Müßiggang;Gewinn sollte nicht von gemeinschaftlichen Verpflichtungen und von Gottlosgelöst sein. (pp.168-169)

Hartau, 2002

“Narrenschiffe” um 1500

#736

…in the trunk beside the devil with the moneybag, are a metal vessel or vessels [Reuterswärd, 1970, 266; Eisler, 1977, 66], a sea- led note, and a weight, while a dagger props up the lid of the chest. A second note or letter is held up by a demon who scrambles out from under the chest on the left. Except for the sealed notes and the weight, all of these articles were among those commonly pawned by people in need of cash in the late Middle Ages [Morganstern, 1982, 39:note 9]… clothing, kitchenware, and even bedding were commonly pawned by the poor [Bigwood, 1921, 479-506; de Roover, 1948, 114, 121; Cartellieri, 1929, 90]. (p. 33)

Morganstern, 1982

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

#738

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

… all of these articles were among those commonly pawned by people in need of cash in the late Middle Ages [Morganstern, 1982, 39:note 9]. Jewelry and plate were among the most common articles pawned by the nobility; the tournament knights were prone to pawn their jousting equipment; but clothing, kitchenware, and even bedding were commonly pawned by the poor [Bigwood, 1921, 479-506; de Roover, 1948, 114, 121; Cartellieri, 1929, 90]… There is a striking resemblance between his hoard and that of a proven usurer. The inventory made in 1368 of the household of Hugues du Chataignier, recently deceased canon at Rouen, mentions a collection of goods curious in the possession of a venerable canon, but similar in nature to the miser’s [Bishop, 1918, 423-425]… he had stored many belongings for which he could have no obvious use. The nature of this dubious assemblage was explained, however, by little labels found on some of the plate and jewelry, inscribed “put on pawn” by so and so. Hugues du Chataignier, canon at Rouen, was a clandestine usurer, an undeniable violator of the law of his church concerning lending at a profit. The position of the medieval church on the question of usury was unequivocal. It rested on the combined weight of the Bible, the patristic writings, and the councils [Noonan, 1957, 11, 14, 19-20, 30, 294-303; Postan, 1963, 564-570; de Roover, 1967, 28; Le Goff, 1979, 27-29]. (pp. 33-35)

Morganstern, 1982

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

#838

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

… presents a shore, in the bottom foreground. There me signs of male middle-class urban lifeme hat, belt, and dagger as well as me wooden clogs worn by figures like Jan van Eyck’s Giovanni Arnolfini [van Eyck, 1434] have actually been discarded with oilier garments on the ground, presumably by me swimmers. At me right edge of the panel stands a tent under which an intimate couple in ordinary dress huddles over a table, sharing a private drink. Upon the tent sits a heraldic crest, and such pavilions normally were me exterior settings for outings by nobles. (p. 245)

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

#839

Indeed, similar tents, along with branches like the one borne by Bosch’s figure on the barrel, can be found in the margins of manuscripts, where illustrations of the princely activities of May, another festive season akin to Carnival, featured boating parties wim tents and branches for the planting of the May-tree (akin to the English tradition of the Maypole) [Bax, 1979, 16, 75, 186-188; Silver, 2006, 410:note 14]. The illumniator Simon Bening of Bruges features this boating scene of noble courtship as his May image in the calendar pages of luxury prayer books, such as the Hennessy Hours (c. 1530) [Kren, McKendrick & Ainsworth, 2003, 467-470, no. 150; 324-329, no. 92, 450-451, no. 140; Smeyers & Van der Stock, 1996, 51-113, 62-63; Cuttler, 1969; Bening, ca. 1530; Bening, 1500; Bening, ca. 1515]. Clearly Bosch’s New Haven image offers revelry that is usually associated wim noble privileges, but now it has been appropriated by middle-class imitators. (p. 245)

#844

Directly below the mast sit a monk and a nun facing each other across a hanging central pancake. They sing a duet that she accompanies on the lute, as they sit at a table plank with a drinking cup and plate full of cherries. Of course, these attributes of music and buffet normally are prerogatives of nobles and certainly not the behavior associated with monastic asceticism, let alone the courtship displayed between these ecclesiastics of opposite sexes. (p. 248)

Hanging pancake from Ship of Fools

#847

The pancake, with its rich egg basis, was in particular a feanired treat during Carnival week, and is displayed behind another fat figure seated on a barrel, the personification of Carnival in Pieter Bruegel’s Combat between Carnival and Lent [Bruegel, 1559 (The Fight between Carnival and Lent; Silver, 2006, 410:note 17; Stone-Ferrier, 1983; Bloemaert, After 1635; de Mooij, 1992, 82, no. 4, 111, no. 48; Bolswert, ca. 1610-1620]. Indeed, one of the posthumous engravings ascribed to “Hieronymus Bosch” by the publisher Hieronymus Cock and engraved by Pieter van der Heyden [ van der Heyden, 1567] features an inn setting for Carnival, in which the tradition of “shaving the fool” is accompanied by the making of waffles at the hearth [de Mooij, 1992, 118, no. 55]. (p. 250)

Hanging pancake from Ship of Fools

#848

The cooking of pancakes and waffles for costumed groups was often depicted as the monthly activity for February, the month of Carnival, in print series [Bloemaert, After 1635; Mooij, 1992, 82, no. 4]… one of the figures in a Battle between Carnival and Lent, engraved by Schelte Bolswert after Boetius Bolswert [Bolswert, ca. 1610-1620] wears both pancakes and waffles as her belt as attributes of the Carnival season. (p. 410:note 17)

#862

Another index of the contemporary associations of peddlers’ trinkets with their foolish materialism is provided by Pieter Bruegel’s print, engraved by Pieter van der Heyden and published in Antwerp by Hieronymus Cock, A Peddler Robbed by’ Monkeys [van der Heyden, 1562 (Marskramer door apen beroofd)], which shows a sleeping peddler whose trivial goods are appealing only to those simple animals [Orenstein, 2001, 219, no. 95; Silver, 1996, 136-138; Wierix, ca. 1568]… de Bruyn has sought and found various popular literary representations of the peddler as a positive figure, sometimes in the role of “warner” or truth-te!ler (waarschuwer) in serious urban rhetoricians’ plays, often moral allegories, by such important authors as Cornelis Everaert of Bruges [de Bruyn, 2001 (Hieronymous Bosch’s So-Called Prodigal Son Tondo), 134-136; de Bruyn, 2001, 199-255; Vandenbroeck, 2002, 144; Hummelen, 1958, 148-151]. (pp. 254-256)

Bird on wooden gate or fence from The Pedlar

#882

Yet on the gate itself a third bird is evident, the black-and-white magpie, frequently associated with babbling or gossip because of its loud voice. Pieter Bruegel features this very species resting atop a gallows before a gloriously verdant valley landscape in the 1568 Magpie on the Gallows (plate 196) [34]. (p. 259)

#884

Bosch’s Peddler shows a repentant sinner, who carries the scars of his former transgressions (bandage, cat skin) and still looks vulnerable to temptation, but who also seems to be attempting to rake a new path in his life. To the extent that Christian doctrine teaches that all humans are sinners, he could be understood as an allegory for Everyman on his pilgrimage of life. Yet his specifics of lower-class identity and poverty, of express sinfulness in a shabby tavern-brothel, can hardly be taken to be the measure of the middle-class (still less the elite) viewing audience for Bosch’s works. We also need to remember that this image of the Peddler formed the exterior of those two other Bosch wings, the Washington Usurer and the Paris-New Haven scenes of luxuria [Bosch, ca. 1475-1500; Bosch, ca. 1495–1500; Bosch, ca. 1485-1490]. In this context, the Rotterdam Peddler can be understood as a lesser version of those same activities – financial gain and pleasure-seeking-and a call (like the image of the angel in the Washington panel) toward reform… Virtually the same character of a thin, wandering old man in shabby clothes also appears on the exterior of one of Bosch’s most significant morality triptychs, the Haywain triptych [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515]… (pp. 259-260)