Bosch's Cripples and Drawings by His Imitators
Author(s): Erwin Pokorny
Source: Master Drawings, Vol. 41, No. 3, Early Netherlandish Drawings (Autumn, 2003), pp.
293-304
Published by: Master Drawings Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1554624
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Bosch's
Drawings
Cripples
and
His
Imitators
by
ErwinPokorny
In the art of the late Middle Ages, the inclusion of
crippled beggars generally signified an appeal to
Christian compassion.They can be found in pictorial cycles on the Seven Acts of Mercy or in devotional
images in the company of compassionate saints.Yet
these malformed figures generally failed to arouse
sympathy in contemporaryviewers, but rather evoked
the widespread fear of deformity,poverty,and disease.
The prevailing notion that spiritual qualities left their
mark on the physical self, that an ugly body housed
an equally unsavory soul, stamped the typology of the
beggar as surely as did the notion that physical handicaps were either one's own fault or God's punishment for living a dissolute life. The change in the
image of the beggar over the course of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries resultedmainly from social and
economic changes, the negative effects of which were
multiplied by naturalcatastrophes,wars,and epidemics.
Beggars overwhelmed charitableinstitutions and constituted an affrontto the rising middle class with their
perceived idleness,unruliness,and deceitful ways.Antibeggar sentiment began to be expressed in literature
as early as around 1400,' but only with the spread of
printing did it become universal.2A particularlyinfluential example is the chapter in Sebastian Brant's
Narrenschff(Shipof Fools)of 1494, in which the author
characterized the majority of beggars as swindlers.3
This opinion was sharedby such authoritiesas Erasmus
and Martin Luther, and eventually led to the establishment of prisons and workhouses.
Like Brant, Hieronymus Bosch (d. 1516) was a
moralist with a droll sense of humor who placed his
art in the service of strict, middle-class mores. It has
long been noted that Bosch's depictions of beggars
are distinctly negative.4It mattersnot that most of the
surviving images of beggars attributed to him are by
other hands, for it is certain that his many imitators
incorporated his inventions into their own compositions. One of the best-known examples is the drawn
copy in the Albertina,Vienna, depicting thirty cripples and a fool (Fig. 3).5 Bosch's particularfascination with such figures appearsto have fed on the great
variety of possible deformities that could be easily
observed in his day.Recently, a group of Dutch physicians attempted to diagnose the infirmities represented by the cripples in this drawing. They not only
identified afflictions resulting from ergot poisoning,
syphilis,leprosy,and the like, but also determined that
some of the figures were faking.6 One is particularly
struck by the number of amputees. From other pictures by Bosch's circle, it is clear that missing limbs
indicate time in prison, since a leg iron often lies on
the ground next to the severed foot.7
The only representationsof cripples that can be
assignedwith certaintyto Bosch are those in the outer
wings of the LastJudgmenttriptych of about 1505 in
the Akademie der bildenden Kiinste,Vienna. In the
right-hand wing, to the left behind St. Bavo, crouches an especially repulsive fellow who tries to evoke
our sympathy by placing a severed foot on the ground
in front of him (Fig. 1). According to Brant, the beggar could easily have snatched the shriveled foot from
a corpse,8 which is why Bosch possibly used it here
as a symbol of deceit.9 The meaning of the coin-size
293
Figure 1 HIERONYMUS BOSCH.
The Last Judgment. Detail.
Vienna,AkademiederbildendenKunste.
bleeding sore on the man's forearm remains unclear.'(
Similar sores covered with a disk-like crust can be
seen on the leg of the half-naked man standing in the
stable doorway in Bosch's Epiphanyin Madrid," on
the head of the wicked thief in the Way of the Cross
in Ghent,12 and on the leg of the tree-man in the
wing representingHell in the Gardenof EarthlyDelights
of about 1505 in Madrid.'3 In the latter, the artist's
loathing for professionalbeggars and fakersis evident;
below the tree-man, a blind beggar is forced to crank
a gigantic hurdy-gurdy,while another'spunishment is
to flail helplessly with his crutch at a huge egg on his
back.
The LastJudgmenttriptych inVienna exhibits a similarly pessimistic worldview. In the left-hand wing,
294
Figure 2
HIERONYMUS BOSCH.
The Last Judgment. Detail.
Vienna,AkademiederbildendenKunste.
which depicts St. James the Elder as a wandering pilgrim, Bosch filled the background landscape with
grim motifs: a hanged man, a pilgrim' s grave,a dead
tree, a rape scene, and-in a parallel contrast to the
virtuous saint-two disabledbeggars on their own pilgrimage (Fig. 4).14 The one on the left, recognizable
from his long stick as a blind man, is led by his severely misshapen companion. This motif anticipates the
allegorical engraving, Overthrowof the Beggars,that
Hieronymus Cock would print-as a Bosch invention-some fifty years later.'"Another indication of
Bosch's aversionto beggarsis his habit of creatingfanciful, hybrid creaturesthat combine features of cripples and devils, most notably the bird-headed,
crutch-wielding demon in the center panel of the
? ?
I-n-
" i? g
3r
IX--IT.
a
?rt
;"t
-i
_q
??
Figure3 Follower of
HIERONYMUS BOSCH.
Cripples and Beggars.
Vienna,Albertina.
295
Vienna triptych,who also displaysthe disk-shapedsore
(Fig. 2). With his bad leg supported by a rope sling
around his neck, he resembles a figure in the center
of the sheet of studies in Vienna (Fig. 3). Another
detail connects him to that drawing as well: the hollow bone affixed to the bottom of his crutch. Such
bones can appearas well on the wooden leg of a cripple, on the walking stick of a crazed old woman,'6 or
even on the devil as a boot.'7 Since this feature is
always only found on one crutch in a pair, it was
unlikely meant to be understood as a device to protect the wood,'8 but ratherit appearsto function symbolically. It may suggest-like the empty wine jars
attached to the legs of numerous devils-that gluttony and intemperance lead to poverty-or perhaps
it plays on the double meanings of the Dutch words
for bone: been also means "leg," as in the proverb
"op een been kan men niet lopen" (you can't run on
one leg), and bot also means "dull" or "stupid."'9The
plural form bottenis identical to the verb "to bud,"
with its secondary meaning "to cheat."2"In this context, it should be mentioned that krukcan mean not
only "crutch,"but also "swindler" or "crook." Here
one is reminded of the proverb "De leugen gaat op
krukken" (lies walk on crutches), which is similar to
the German adage "Liigen haben kurze Beine" (lies
have short legs).2' By the middle of the sixteenth century, the symbolic significance of the attached bones
had been forgotten: in an engraving of the Vienna
drawing of beggars printed in Antwerp around 1560,
they are nowhere to be seen (Fig. 5).22
Bosch's intention in his art was altogetherthe same
Both wished to steer viewas Brant'sin his Narrenschiff
ers or readers toward a virtuous way of life by presenting highly unsavory examples of human behavior
in an entertainingway.As a living grotesque,the crippled beggar was ideally suited for this purpose.He had
alreadylimped through the drolleriesof late medieval
books of hours to provide comic relief- like the fools,
monkeys, and fabulous beasts-and to emphasize the
moralist content.23As the antithesis of ideal beauty,
which was alwaysassociatedwith nobility of character,
the cripple was moreover a distortedsymbol of human
baseness,and as such lent himself to satire.Thus the
legend on the above-mentioned engraving equates the
296
depicted crippleswith corrupt clerics who fail to "walk
straight"in their eagernessfor fat rewards.24
The engraving names Bosch as its inventor,which
presumably explains the traditionalattribution of the
Albertina drawing. The late Hans Mielke based his
argument in support of that attribution on the early
watermark of a related drawing in the Bibliotheque
Royale, Brussels (Fig. 7).25That sheet shows thirty figures-including two fools and a woman giving almsdistributed at random across the page. Some of the
beggars appear to have been based on known prototypes. The cripple with the fluttering cloak angrily
swinging his crutch close to the left edge recalls a
similarlyfigure in the Hay Wain triptych in the Prado,
Madrid.26And the beggar on the right, with one leg
heavily bandaged and the other bent outward, so
closely resembles a figure seen from the back in the
upper right of the Vienna drawing that they seem to
be two views of a single prototype.
Since the Brussels drawing carries an apocryphal
Bruegel signature,scholarshave associatedboth drawings with Pieter Bruegel the Elder. However, close
examination of the two drawings reveals that neither
can be by either Bruegel or Bosch. They are, moreover, very different from each other. The style of the
Brussels drawing is more spontaneous and sketchy.In
addition, it is possible to make out in it a number of
pentimenti.Accordingly, this must be the work of an
early imitator trying out his own variations on Bosch
inventions.By contrast,the extreme control and threedimensional modeling of the drawing in Vienna, as
well as its wealth of detail, identify it as a conscientious copy or a finished drawing.Even so, both works
may have served the same function: in the manner of
medieval pattern books, they brought together examples of beggars and fools for use by members of the
artist's workshop or by others outside the studio.The
two drawingsperhapsrelate to their hypothetical prototypes in much the same way as the sheet with various figures in Providence relates to Bosch's studies of
monsters in Berlin.27Similar compilations of motifs
are found in prints as well. For example, Israhel van
Meckenem, in a vertical format engraving, brought
together depictions of children, alone or in pairs,
which had been invented by the Master of the
Figure 4
HIERONYMUS BOSCH.
The LastJudgment.Detail.
Vienna,AkademiederbildendenKunste.
Housebook.28 In addition to their use by artists,such
collections of figures were included as diagrammatic
book illustrations in bestiaries or travel narratives,
offering greaterinterest to the subject and a semblance
of scholarly authority.
Despite their scattered distribution on the page, a
few of the figures in the two drawings of cripples
(Figs. 3, 7) relate to each other, and thus are provided with a compositional context. For example, in the
Vienna sheet, a lute-playing fool appearsto be exhorting the grotesque assembly to join in a dance, while
in the Brussels drawing, two fools have been added
at the right center as if to signify the group of figures as an allegory on folly and vice. The alternation
between isolated figures and these related groupings,
with no clear spatialrelationshipconnecting them, was
apparentlyintended.
Because of this obvious ambivalence in concept,
the two drawings must be viewed as independent
works of art quite aside from their function as pattern sheets. Given their curious subject matter, they
would have been perfectly at home in a Kunst-und
That both were indeed used as patWunderkammer.
terns nonetheless is apparentfrom a feature they have
in common. Above the heads of many of the figures
-sf6 J-- 3F5'o
A;G
t~#tl;* -k
L
LIP
).
~hCrl
nr?rJrpior
BOSCH.
Figure 5 After HIERONYMUS
Cripples and Beggars.Engraving.
Vienna,Albertina.
are little circles made with a dark crayon - apparently to mark a particular selection. Some of these
marks have been nearly rubbed off, and presumably
some have disappeared altogether.Twenty-one such
marksare still visible on the Vienna drawing,only five
on the one in Brussels.We know that the Vienna
drawing served as the model for an engraving,and for
that purpose no selection would have been necessary.
The engravershifted the positions of some of the figures slightly,but he did not omit any of them. Thus,
the selection must have been made for some other
composition, and indeed, a Brussels tapestry incorporates individual figures from both drawings. It seems
worthwhile, therefore, to try to determine whether
the circles had something to do with the preparatory work for the tapestry.
297
Figure 6 Follower of HIERONYMUS BOSCH. St. Martin with Cripples and Beggars.Tapestry.
San Lorenzo,El Escorial.
The tapestryin question,from a five-partcycle produced in Brusselsin 1566 for CardinalGranville,archbishop of Mechlin, now hangs in the Escorial(Fig. 6).29
It depicts a young man on horseback surroundedby
begging cripples.Others in the cycle reproducedBosch's
Gardenof EarthlyDelights,a version of his Hay Wain,
and a Temptation
of St. Anthony.The last of these compositions, featuring an elephant,has been lost. An earlier edition of the series is described quite precisely in
an inventory drawn up for King Francis I in 1542,
which date serves as a terminusante quemfor the prototype of the cycle that survives.We know nothing
about the circumstancesof this cycle' s manufacture.
However,from tapestryprojectsthat are more fully documented, it is possible to reconstructthe working procedure. First,if it is a new invention, the painter made
298
a presentationdrawing.Once the patron had approved
or pattern painter,transit, the so-called Patronenmaler,
ferred the design onto a full-size working pattern.The
tapestrywas then produced directlyabove this cartoon,
woven from the back, so that the front side showed the
design in reverse.30This is why the tapestry copy of
the Gardenof EarthlyDelightsreproducedits three panels as a mirror image of the painting.The same is true
in part of the Hay Wain,although the composition was
considerablyalteredin that design.31As no prototype is
known for the tapestryshowing the Temptation
of St.
it
is
that
the
last
however,
Anthony,
possible
tapestry
with the elephant was based on the same Bosch prototype as the engraving by Alart du Hamel.32
To what extent the Escorial tapestrywith the rider
and cripples followed a prototype by the master him-
~.,}.
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Figure 7 Follower of HIERONYMUS BOSCH.
Cripples and Beggars.
Brussels,Bibliotli'qlue
Royale.
299
onded d~
inr
ar6m
frpims
Ond,ral,dit
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BOSCH.
Figure 8 Follower of HIERONYMUS
St. Martin with Cripples and Beggars in a Harbor. Engraving.
Vienna,Albertina.
self we do not know. But by studying individual figures and motifs, some interesting connections can be
made to the two drawings and to other works by
Bosch's followers. In the lower right, near the city
moat, a fat cripple is dragging himself along with a
harp on his back. The mirror-image of this figure
appears in the center of the Brussels drawing. Other
matching figures were noted in 1967 by Otto Kurz:
the begging man and woman at the lower left of the
tapestry,who are nearly identical to those at the center of the Vienna drawing.33The man plays a hurdygurdy, while the hunchbacked woman beside him
sings.Presumably,they are both blind:the hurdy-gurdy
player by tradition,his companion because of the way
300
she clings to him. Of the motif of the little dog in
the drawing the tapestry retains only a fragment of
the leash, which leads one to conclude that the animal was also present in the lost weavers' pattern.
Changes of this sort are by no means uncommon.
Another version of the tapestryin a Paris private collection shows how much freedom was taken in the
production of such works. There the pair of beggar
musicians was eliminated along with their dog, and
the cripple to the right of them was moved to the
left edge instead.34
There are two opinions regarding the identity of
the young horseman. Some scholars have argued that
he is St. Martin,35while others see him as St. Anthony
W^ ^-A
Figure 9
^-
a,,W
.
Follower of HIERONYMUS
BOSCH.
St. Martin with Cripples and Beggars.
Oxford,AshmoleanMuseum.
setting out for his hermitage.36However, the principal attributesof the two saints,the sword and the tau
cross, are missing. It has been suggested that a scene
in the background favors the second interpretation:
this shows a mock tournament with blind men
attempting to club a pig. But such entertainments
were evidently a traditional part of carnival celebrations, not just those of the feast of St.Anthony aanuary
17).37 Indeed, pig-slaughteringparties were also staged
in Wiirzburg on St. Martin's Day (November 11),
when the animals, called "St. Martin's pigs," were
goaded into attacking each other.38 Customs associated with that day would also explain the subsequent
feast, the drinking bout, and the fire behind the city
gate. But the strongest argument for the identification
of the rider as St. Martin is the presence of the crippled beggars, who are traditionally associated with
him. Even in the inventory of Francis I, the tapestry
is described as "Sainct Martin environne de plusieurs
mendians."39Only the sword with which he cut his
cloak in two is lacking from this portrayalof the saint,
although his mirror-image prototype could certainly
have held a sword in his right hand.40The scene shown
in the tapestryappearsto be a secular allegory,for the
young horseman is about to trample on a cowering
cripple and shows no sign of Christian compassion.
Another engravingprinted around 1560 in Antwerp
as a Bosch invention, like the sheet of cripples and
301
the Downfall of the Beggarsby Hieronymus Cock,
makes the iconographic connection to St. Martin even
more convincing (Fig. 8). It shows the saint at a harbor standing next to his horse in a barge;he is there
identified by his sword, a halo, and even his name. As
in the tapestries,he has just left the city and is being
besieged by beggars outside the gate.The background
is occupied by a riotous drinking party on a boat, a
St. Martin's bonfire on the pier, and two floating vessels upon which fools and beggarsjoust with lances.
While the inclusion of a saint might seem out of
place-for the engraving by no means appeals to
Christiancharity- St. Martin'sgenerosityis employed
as a contrast to, and thus as a denunciation of, the
greed and excess represented by the beggars.As the
legend beneath the picture relates,Martin's gift of his
cloak only served to unleash a fight over such a prize.4
One of the cripples has even climbed on the horse
to steal one of the stirrups.
A pen-and-wash drawing in the Ashmolean,
Oxford, possibly done around 1600, combines figures
from this engraving of St. Martin with a landscape of
grotesquesa la Bosch (Fig. 9).42This pastiche was based
on other works as well. Three of the figures in the
crowd of people streaming out of the cave on the
right correspond-in reverse-to figuresin theVienna
Wayof the Crossby one of Bosch' s pupils,43while the
fantasticfountain sculptureis taken from the Cleansing
of the Temple,which survives in copies.44 It is the left
half of the drawing that correspondsto the two drawings of cripples. Here several figures appear to have
been modeled after the lost tapestry design, for the
two pairs of beggars in the lower left corner can be
seen in the tapestry-again, in reverse-just to the
right of the center. Also, the two figures on crutches-one in profile, the other seen from the backare mirrored in the tapestry between the rock cliff
and the rider.Two of the beggars in the Vienna drawing also follow their original prototype:the one holding a lute in the center and the figure seen from the
back at the right edge. A further correspondence is
seen in the cripple caught beneath the horse's hooves
and trying to protect himself with his upraised arm
in both the Oxford drawing and the tapestry.The
horse, however, representsa conflation of two proto302
types: it rears above the crouching figure as in the
tapestry,but carries on its back the audacious stirrup
thief from the engraving.45
Does any of this help explain the little circles on
the Vienna and Brussels drawings? Portions of the
Oxford drawing were not based on the tapestry but
rather-to judge from the mirror-image correspondences-on some prototypecommon to all three drawings.This could have been the presentationdrawingfor
the tapestry,the actual cartoon, or even a panel painting. Such a painting would have provided the tapestry'scomposition, making any selection of figuresfrom
the Vienna and Brusselsdrawingsunnecessary.If a lost
panel was indeed the model, then the little circleshave
nothing to do with the creation of the tapestryafter
all, leaving their function as obscure as ever.
Erwin Pokornyis a memberof the team preparingthe
Corpus of German and Netherlandish Drawings from
1300 to 1500 in Vienna and coauthor of Early
Netherlandish Drawings from Jan van Eyck to
Hieronymus Bosch (Antwerp,2002).
EDITORS' NOTE: Russell Stockman kindly translated the
text from the German.
1.
See J. Huizinga, Herbst des Mittelalters.Studien uber Lebensund Geistesformendes 14. und 15. Jahrhundertsin Frankreich
und in den Niederlanden (The Waning of the Middle Ages),
Stuttgart, 1975, pp. 248, 443.
2.
See P. Vandenbroeck, Hieronymus Bosch. The Complete
Paintings and Drawings (first published on the occasion of
the exhibition Jheronimus Bosch, Museum Boijmans Van
Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2001), Ghent and Amsterdam,
2001, pp. 113-14.
3.
S. Brant, Das Narrenschiff (Basel, 1494), modernized by
H. A. Junghans, edited, annotated, and reissued with an
afterword by H.-J. Mahl, Stuttgart, 1999, pp. 222-25.
4.
See O. Kurz, "Four Tapestries after Hieronymus Bosch,"
Journal of the Warburgand Courtauld Institutes, 30, 1967, p.
160; Vandenbroeck, 2001, p. 116.
5.
Inv. no. 7798. Dates to about 1520-60 (?). Pen and brown
ink; 285 x 208 mm. See F Koreny and E. Pokorny,
"Hieronymus Bosch. Die Zeichnungen in Briissel und
Wien," Delineavit et Sculpsit, 24, 2001, pp. 23-27.
6.
J. Dequeker, G. Fabry, L. Vanopdenbosch, "De processie
van kreupelen naar Jeroen Bosch (ca. 1450-1516): een
stichkabinett.KritischerKatalog,Turnhout, 2001, no. 1.33).
historische analyse,"Millenium,tijdschrift
voormiddeleeuwse 18. As proposed by D. Bax, OntcijferingvanJeroen Bosch, The
studies, 15, 2001, pp. 140-53. An earlier version of this
article was published in the IsraelMedicalAssociationJournal,
3, 2001, pp. 864-71. I would like to express my warmest
gratitude to Aafje D'hooge and Jos Koldeweij for calling
my attention to these articles.
7.
8.
9.
See, for example, the central panel of the famous
Temptationof St. Anthony triptych in Lisbon and its numerous copies (R. H. Marijnissen, HieronymusBosch. Das vollstdndigeWerk,Antwerp 1988, p. 194, repr. ), as well as the
tapestry discussed below (see Fig. 8).
See Sebastian Brant's Narrenschiff(Brant, 1999 ed., p. 224) or
the LiberVagatorum,
"Von der falschen Better Biiberei" ("On
the Trickery of Evil Beggars") (Kurz, 1967, pp. 160-61).
Hague, 1949, p. 74.
19. For been and bot, see W. Martin and G. A. J. Tops, Van
Dale groot woordenboek
Utrecht and
Nederlands-Engels,
Antwerp, 1999, pp. 112, 195.
20.
I am most grateful to Frank Willaert for this information.
21.
See L. De Pauw-DeVeen,"Das Briisseler Blatt mit Bettlern
und Kriippeln: Bosch oder Bruegel?" in Pieter Bruegelund
seine Welt (colloquium, Kunsthistorisches Institut der
Freien Universitat Berlin and Kupferstichkabinett der
Staatlichen Museen Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz,
Berlin, 13-14 November 1975), Berlin, 1979, p. 153.
22.
Incidentally, this observation negates the question posed
by De Pauw-De Veen of whether the drawing could possibly have followed the engraving (De Pauw-De Veen in
Pieter Bruegel,1979, pp. 150- 51). See Hollstein, vol. 3, p.
144, no. 34.
This motif is also found in the upper left corner of the
Albertina drawing and in other works by followers of Bosch.
10. This detail recalls Brant's angry verses claiming that professional beggars were not above etching "wounds and
boils" on their own children. See Brant, 1999 ed., p. 223.
On the other hand, the disk-shaped crust-if that is what
it is-would suggest the skin disease Ecthyma, which is
caused by poor hygiene. I am most grateful to Jan
Dequeker for this medical information. For this wound
as a sign of evil, see also P. Reutersward, HieronymusBosch,
Uppsala, 1970, pp. 144-47.
23. See, for example, some drolleries in the Book of Hours of
Mary of Burgundy (Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod.Vin. 1857), fols. 47v, 48r, 195r, 195 v. See
also M. Camille,Imageon theEdge.The Marginsof Medieval
Art, Cambridge, MA, and London, 1992, pp. 132-36, figs.
70-73.
24. The legend reads:
Al dat op den blauwentrughelsack,
gheerneleeft
Gaet meestal Cruepele,ob beijdesijden
Daeromden CrupelnBisschop,
veel dienaershaaft
Die om een vetteproue,den rechten
ghanckmijden.
11. See R. H. Marijnissen, Hieronymus Bosch. Das vollstdndige
Werk,Antwerp, 1988, pp. 234-35, 251, repr. (detail).
12. See Marijnissen, 1988, pp. 379, 382, repr. (detail).
13. See H. Belting, HieronymusBosch, Garten derLiiste, Munich
and elsewhere, 2002, p. 43, repr.
14. The traditionally close connection between professional
beggars and pilgrims is also clearly seen in the badges
worn by figures in the Vienna drawing (Fig. 1). See K.
Zweerink and J. Koldeweij, "Insignes en Jheronimus
Bosch," Heilig en Profaan2. Laatmiddeleuuwse
Insignesuit
openbareen particulierecollecties(Rotterdam Papers, 12),
25.
Inv. no. S.II.133.708. Dates to about 1520-40. Pen and
brown ink; 265 x 199 mm. H. Mielke, Pieter Bruegel.Die
Zeichnungen (Pictura nova, vol. 2), Turnhout, 1996, nos. A
47, A 48. See also Koreny and Pokorny, 2001, pp. 28-31.
26. Lydia De Pauw-DeVeen has already mentioned this correspondence (De Pauw-De Veen in Pieter Bruegel, 1979,
p. 153). Jacques Combe also pointed out the similarities
between the cripples in the drawings and those sur-
Bosch,Paris,
roundingthe HayWain U. Combe,Jheronimus
Cothen, 2001, pp. 207-23.
1946, p. 46).
15. F W. H. Hollstein, Dutchand FlemishEtchings,Engravings,
and Woodcuts,ca. 1450-1700, vol. 3, p. 138, no. 21 (see
also vol. 9, p. 27, nos. 19-20).
16. See Vandenbroeck, 2001, p. 127, figs. 102-103.
17. See, for example, Bosch's drawing of two monsters in
Berlin (inv. no. KdZ 547; S. Buck, Die niederldndischen
Zeichnungendes 15. Jahrhundertsim Berliner Kupfer-
27.
See Buck, 2001, no. 1.33.
28. J. P. Filedt Kok, with K.G. Boon, M.D. Haga, J.C.
Hutchison, P. Moraw, and K. P. F Moxey, Vom Leben im
Der Hausbuchmeister
oderder Meisterdes
spatenMittelalter.
AmsterdamerKabinetts,exh. cat., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,
and Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 1985, pp. 141-43,
figs. 59-61, 61g.
303
29. Until only a few years ago, the tapestries hung in Madrid's
Palacio Real, but they have now been placed on permanent display in the Escorial. P. Junquera de Vega and
C. Herrero Carretero, Catalogo de tdpices del Patrimonio
Nacional, vol. 1, Siglo XVI, Madrid, 1986, pp. 263-67.
30.
See R. Bauer, "Wie entsteht eine Tapisserie? Zur Technik
des Webens," in R. Bauer and G. J. Kugler, Der Kriegszug
Kaiser Karls Vgegen Tunis.Kartons und Tapisserien,exh. cat.,
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2001, pp. 127-32.
(1499-1542) recorded this custom. See J. Diinninger and
H. Schopf, eds., Briuche und Feste im frinkischenJahreslauf
Texte vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert (Die Plassenburg.
Schriftenfir Heimatforschungund Kulturpflegein Ostfranken,
30), Kulmbach, 1971, p. 114. I am grateful to Julia Hecht
for directing me to this source.
39.
Gewirkt in Gold, 1993, p. 92.
31. Kurz, 1967, p. 15, figs. a-b.
40. Vandenbroeck, 2001, p. 115. In the second copy of the
tapestry in a Paris collection, there is even a suggestion
of a halo.
32. Hollstein, vol. 3, p. 147, no. 42.
41.
Neither Bosch nor one of his followers invented the
greedy beggar; already in a drawing attributed to the
Master of the Drapery Studies in the Kupferstichkabinett,
Berlin, there is a cripple crouching beneath St. Martin's
horse and pulling on the cloak that the saint is in the
act of sharing with another beggar (inv. no. KdZ 1973;
Buck, 2001, no. IV.6).
42.
Inv. no. 1863.156. Pen and black ink, blue wash, charcoal; 365 x 505 mm. See Buck, 2001, p. 309, fig. 144.
43.
One can recognize the soldier in the red cloak, the thief
next to him, and the guard in armor behind them. See
Marijnissen, 1988, p. 271, repr.
44.
G. Unverfehrt, Hieronymus Bosch. Die Rezeption seiner
Kunst imfriihen 16.Jahrhundert,Berlin, 1980, no. 142, fig.
71.
33. Kurz, 1967, p. 158.
34.
G. Delmarcel, with I. van Tichelen, A. Volckaert, and Y.
Maes, Gewirkt in Gold. Flimische Tapisserienaus dem Besitz
der spanischen Krone, exh. cat., Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich, 1993, p. 94, fig. 6.
35.
See D. Bax, "Als de Blende tzwijn sloughen," Tijdschrift
voor NederlandseTaal- en Letterkunde,63, 1944, p. 84; L.
Brand Philipp, "The 'Peddler' by Hieronymus Bosch, a
Jaarboek,9,
Study in Detection," NederlandsKunsthistorisch
1958, p. 59; Kurz, 1967, pp. 156- 61.Vandenbroeck (2001,
p. 115) avoided a precise identification and called the
tapestry "Saint Leaving the City."
36.
See J. K. Steppe, "Jheronimus Bosch. Bijtrage tot de historische en de ikonografische studie van zijn werk,"
JheronimusBosch. Bijtragenbij gelegenheidvan de herdenking1967, pp. 33-36;Junquera
stentoonstellingte 's-Hertogenbosch,
de Vega and Herrero Carretero, 1986, p. 264; A. Volckaert
in Gewirkt in Gold, 1993, p. 96.
37. Kurz, 1967, pp. 156-59; Gewirkt in Gold, 1993, p. 96.
38. Johannes Boemus
304
(1485-1535)
and Sebastian Franck
45. This motif recalls the saying "Set a beggar on horseback,
and he'll ride to the Devil." Other variants from the late
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries: "Set a beggar
on horse backe, they saie, and hee will neuer alight"
(Robert Greene, Card of Fancie); "That beggars mounted run their horse to death" (William Shakespeare,King
Henry VI, Part III); "Set a beggar on horseback, and he
will ride a gallop" (Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy).