Creative work Analysis of Bosch's painting “Extracting the Stones of Stupidity. Medieval trepanation

JEROME BOSCH. Extraction of the stone of stupidity (Operation of stupidity). 1475-1480. Oil on board. 48; 35 cm Prado, Madrid

One of the most early work artist that has come down to us.
When Dutch artist encloses some composition in a circle, we must immediately take into account that by this he emphasizes that we are not facing an isolated case, but an allegory of the entire human race.

At first glance, this depicts a common, albeit dangerous, operation that the surgeon for some reason performs under open sky, putting a funnel on his head. Probably, the character of the fair farce is being ridiculed here - a simpleton or a cuckold husband (a book placed on a woman's head was understood as a "guide" for swindlers and deceivers).

The inverted funnel worn over the surgeon's head has been explained as an allusion to the absent-mindedness of a learned man, but in the context of a farce, it most likely serves as a sign of deceit.

According to another version, the closed book on the nun's head and the surgeon's funnel, respectively, symbolize that knowledge is useless when dealing with stupidity, and that this kind of healing is quackery.

Indeed, there were charlatans who were engaged in such operations - alone or with assistants, they wandered from city to city and deceived the simple-minded.

If you look closely, then in the landscape, among the brownish-red plains, the image of the gallows appears as a sign of inevitable retribution, maybe not in this world, but in some distant future. The gallows, the wheel as an instrument of torture and execution, on the backgrounds of Bosch are very common, then these motives will be present in Brueghel.

The Dutch expression "to have a stone in the head" meant "to be stupid, insane, out of place". The plot of the removal of the “stone of stupidity” can be traced in Dutch engravings, paintings and literature up to the 17th century.

The ornamental inscription at the top and bottom reads: “Master, remove the stone. My name is Lubbert Das." In Bosch's time, there was a belief that a madman could be cured by removing the stones of stupidity from his head. Lubbert is a common noun, denoting an imbecile. In the picture, contrary to expectations, not a stone is removed, but a flower, another flower lies on the table. It is established that these are tulips, and in medieval symbolism, the tulip meant stupid gullibility.

In 1956 there were attempts to explain the relationship between stone and flower by referring to old dictionaries. It has been established that the word "tulpe" has a connotation (connection) with stupidity, carnations are associated with the word "keyken" (a little stone). Perhaps Bosch turned to symbols to depict flowers instead of stones.

Reviews

The daily audience of the Proza.ru portal is about 100 thousand visitors, who in total view more than half a million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.

Another fairly popular plot of the Middle Ages is the removal of the stone of stupidity.
In the Middle Ages and some time later, there was a belief that stupidity and other mental deviations are associated with the fact that there are some extra stones, growths in the human head (hence the Dutch expression “to have a stone in the head” - “to be stupid, insane, with his head out of place"). And if you remove them, then the person will immediately become wiser. Indeed, there were charlatans who were engaged in such operations - alone or with assistants, they wandered from city to city and deceived the simple-minded.
This plot can be traced in Dutch engravings, paintings and literature up to the 17th century.

In "Extracting the Stone of Stupidity" in the middle of a dull, monotonous landscape, a company of four people, it is not clear how it ended up here, is located. Next to the table in an armchair sits a gray-haired simpleton, over whom a charlatan in a long mantle is performing some kind of action. Bosch's charlatanism is an integral, obligatory companion of human stupidity. The images of charlatans are very common in him, especially in his early work.

The ornamental inscription on a black background reads: "Master, remove the stone. My name is Lubbert Das." Lubbert is an impersonal name, in Bosch's time it meant an imbecile.

So, a simpleton named Lubbert makes a "stupid operation" a charlatan, but contrary to expectations, not a stone is removed from the cut, but a flower, another flower lies on the table. It has been established that these are tulips, and in medieval symbolism, a tulip meant stupid gullibility and / or deceit (why is not known, but this is the meaning of this flower in old dream books).

The meaning of the operation was to make such an incision, cast a spell over it and, hiding some hard piece in the hand, then show it to the patient. An inverted funnel is depicted on the charlatan's head - a sign of cunning, deceit - an object that is not used for its intended purpose. In Bosch, we will often see this kind of symbols - a thing that is not in its place or is used in the wrong way, as a sign of some kind of unnaturalness. On the head of the Beguine nun, who is present here as a companion of the charlatan, lies a book - another sign of false wisdom (a book placed on a woman's head was understood as a "guide" for swindlers and deceivers). Knowledge is placed not inside, but outside. According to another version, the closed book on the nun's head and the surgeon's funnel, respectively, symbolize that knowledge is useless when dealing with stupidity, and that this kind of healing is quackery.
If you look closely, then in the landscape, among the brownish-red plains, the image of the gallows appears as a sign of inevitable retribution, maybe not in this world, but in some distant future. The gallows, the wheel as an instrument of torture and execution, are very common in Bosch's backgrounds, then these motifs will also be present in Brueghel, it symbolizes the evil of this world.

The painting "Extraction of the Stone" apparently was a success and after it a lot of other paintings appeared with the same plot.

B. Removing the rocks in the head-1550-1599

Jan Sanders van Hemessen_1554-1560

The patient was tied to a chair, the skin was cut, after which, with the dexterity of a conjurer, a stone stored in advance was taken out, passing it off as a stone removed from the cut. The painting "Extracting the Stone of Stupidity" was considered to be written by Bosch, but for the past few years, Dutch researchers have disputed the authorship.

Many of the works of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, as we know, are a kind of didactic satire denouncing human vices, but his predecessor, Jeroen Antonison van Aken, better known as Hieronymus Bosch, such a view of the world is no less characteristic. Very little is known about this Dutch artist, but the unlike language of his paintings speaks for itself.

In the works of Bosch, the connection with local color is clearly manifested: folklore, popular prints, performances given at fairs. For example, to this day has reached a funny story about Lubbert of Reimbach, who was deceived and decided that a "headstone operation" should be performed. In the Middle Ages, many people believed that stupidity and narrow-mindedness arise from special stones that appear in the head, and in order to sharply grow wiser, they simply need to be removed.

That is why they said about narrow-minded people that “they know no more than stupid stones” or that “they have a stone in their head”, which meant by no means hidden malice, but was like the Russians “without a king in their head”, “porridge (cockroaches) in head”, “the pot does not cook”, or even “urine hit the head”. In general, they disentangled this "porridge" in Holland with the help of trepanation. And although such operations for therapeutic purposes were carried out back in the Stone Age, the medicine of the Middle Ages was much inferior to them.

The cities of the Netherlands were roamed not only by blind beggars and musicians, but also by wandering apothecaries who prepared potions and sold poisons. Ancient authors contrasted professional doctors with these charlatans, whose social status was as low as that of vagabonds and public women. It was they who saved simpletons like Lubbert from stupidity and extra money. The patient was tied to a chair, the skin was cut, after which, with the dexterity of a conjurer, a stone stored in advance was taken out, passing it off as a stone removed from the cut. In general, they worked no worse than modern Filipino healers. This plot was widespread in medieval folklore, by the 15th century it migrated to literature and fine arts and survived until the 17th century.

Hieronymus Bosch. Retrieving the stone of stupidity

The painting "Extracting the Stone of Stupidity" was considered to be written by Bosch, but for the past few years Dutch researchers have disputed the authorship, attributing it to students and followers. Unfortunately, the question of authenticity in general often arises these days. So, in mid-November 2017, the only Leonardo was sold at an auction, which was not in a museum, but in a private collection, and its authenticity still causes a lot of controversy. However, the work "left" for 450 million dollars, and this is the most expensive painting sold during the auction. On this moment there is no expertise that can give an unambiguous answer, and restorations and renovations only complicate matters, so the Prado Museum, where Bosch's work is stored, did not agree with the conclusions of the Dutch colleagues.

The drawing here is somewhat sloppy, but both the landscape and the frequent "things out of place" in Bosch's world are easily recognizable. The artist depicts a village simpleton in a white shirt and red pants, tied to a chair, behind which is a healer with a scalpel in his hands, and opposite, leaning on the table, are a monk with a silver jug ​​in his hands and a nun. The scene itself is inscribed in a tondo (from the Italian rotondo - “circle”). According to Plato, the circle is perfect figure, which is why it was so loved by the Italians of the Renaissance. But harsh artists Northern Renaissance took a different path, making the circle a symbol of common troubles and problems.

Tondo, in turn, is located in a rectangle, where fancy vignettes and golden letters are on a black background: “Master, quickly remove the stones. My name is Lubbert Das." This name was widespread and at the same time was equated in its meaning with the “simple”, reminiscent of the hero of Russian fairy tales, Ivan the Fool. True, it often became a nickname for those who were lazy and fat. In general, this fat Lubbert is saved from stupidity by a doctor, on whose head an inverted funnel flaunts. This item, used for other purposes, is considered a symbol of deception. The artist uses a similar solution in the image of a nun, on whose head lies a closed Bible, personifying the surface of knowledge. Her companion, a monk, is holding a jug of wine, with which Bosch denounces drunkenness. Above the head of the false doctor, it is easy to distinguish a gallows and a pole with a wheel for wheeling - according to the artist, retribution will overtake the deceivers.

But the most interesting is the very “stone of stupidity”: in the picture it is presented in the form of flower buds, one of which the charlatan takes out of the patient’s head, and the second is already on the table, testifying to the demand for a deceitful doctor. Many researchers take the flower for a tulip: in the dream books of that time, it meant a lie. In addition, tulip bulbs were terribly expensive, and this may be an allusion to the easy money that the doctor got. But for those who like it hot, there is another version. A flower that looks like a nymphaeum (water lily) is considered the personification of sexual desire. So the charlatan not only saves the client from stupidity, but also saves from lust, returning to the righteous path, that is, in fact, castrates, as indicated by the name of our hero. Some art historians translate Lubbert Das as "castrated badger", since the verb lubben means "to castrate", and the badger (das in Dutch), like the hero of folklore, is lazy and loves to sleep. A bag pierced with a knife goes into the piggy bank of the "hot" interpretation.

Two words about the customer: he was the illegitimate son of Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy, Antoine, the Great Bastard of Burgundy. His father founded the knightly order of the Golden Fleece, and the golden vignettes along the edge of the tondo resemble not only the coat of arms of the bastard himself, but also the badge of the order. From his father, Antoine inherited not only "courage, valor, and prudence, and some other virtues, and good habits," but also temperament: members of the order condemned him for extramarital affairs. So, perhaps, the hero of the picture was really intended to remind of piety and abstinence.

The plot with the extraction of the stone arose more than once in the work of Dutch artists, but only Bosch found flowers in his head, for which he is greatly thanked by art critics: there is where to break a couple of copies.

A painting from the collection of the Prado Museum "Extraction of the Stone of Stupidity" by Bosch is presented at the exhibition currently held in this museum dedicated to the 500th anniversary of Bosch. Before the exhibits of this exhibition from different museums world, appeared before the audience in the Prado Museum, the exhibition, almost in the same composition, was shown in the artist's homeland in the North Brabant Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch. Some Internet sources mentioned the contradictions in the opinion of the Dutch and Spanish museum experts about the authorship of the painting "Removing the stone of stupidity": the Dutch were going to exhibit it with the label " Dutch artist- a follower of Bosch", which was opposed by the staff of the Prado Museum, who believe that the author of the painting is Bosch. In his post I, following the Internet sources that I trusted, mentioned that at their own exhibition, the Prado employees presented this picture, also without the authorship of Bosch. From the materials on the Prado website it is clear that this is not the case. I am correcting the error and adding the materials of technological research of this picture.

Pilar Silva, Department Curator Flemish painting, Northern School (1400-1600s) and Spanish painting (1100-1500s) of the Prado Museum, as well as a participant in an international project Bosch Research and Conservation Project talks about the painting (at the end of the post there is a video from the museum's website - her story):

The first reference we have to this painting dates from the reign of Philip the Fifth, Duke of Anjou, King of Spain from 1700 to 1746. IN Last year reign - 1745, the painting, as we know, was in the possession of Philip the Fifth, or, as he was called at that time Quinta del Duque del Arco , that is, belonged to the Crown. It is not known whether the painting was part of the royal collection prior to this date, as the inventory books have been lost. The first document mentioning the painting indicates that it previously belonged to Philip of Burgundy, illegitimate son Philip the Good, who, undoubtedly, is her customer.

The composition differs from Bosch's other two works of the same format with secular themes. And the plot, according to Pilar Silva, was inspired by the Order of the Golden Fleece, founded by Philip the Good. The chain on which the order is worn consists of links in the form of flint and flint - flint, the heraldic symbol of Burgundy, on the official coat of arms of which, in turn, flaunts a fleur-de-lis. It turns out that the plot of the picture is a double allusion to the customer, Philip the Good: the stone (flint) that the surgeon must remove from the patient's head turns out to be a lily. He removes one from the patient's head, and the second, already removed, lies on the table. Pilar Silva specifically emphasizes that the flower - water lily, and not a tulip, since tulips were cultivated in Holland only in 1594, and the picture was written much earlier.

The center of the composition, enclosed in a circle, serves as a kind of mirror demonstrating human stupidity. The surgeon is a fraud, as evidenced by the inverted funnel on his head - an allusion to deception. The flower, according to the plot of the picture, similar to a scene from a fair farce, symbolizes lust. This allusion to the form of manifestation of the patient's stupidity or madness is also confirmed by the inscription, in the upper and lower parts of the picturesque frame of the central "mirror": "Master, remove the stone. My name is Lubbert Das." In the inscription, according to Pilar, two allusions are also hidden: the name Lubbert itself is associated with stupidity and madness, in which, as was believed in Bosch's time, there is a stone in the head; and the name comes from the verb "lubber" meaning castration. It turns out that the fair scene is an operation to remove lust, castration of lust and sexual desires of a peasant patient. The two figures standing side by side also identify delusions: the old rector, tenaciously squeezing a beer mug in his hand, and a woman with a book on her head, who, according to Pilar, is the wife of a peasant, - in addition to the obvious role of participants in the fair scene, they represent an allusion to false knowledge (the book is a hint of pseudoscience).

The technique of writing this picture differs from the typical painting style of Bosch. Pilar Silva believes that it was precisely at the request of the customer that Bosch avoided "impasto" here - the textural loads of the pictorial layer, characteristic of other works by the artist. Below is an infrared reflectogram of this painting, which allows you to see preparatory drawing, also made in a technique uncharacteristic of Bosch: in a dry way with a bold stylus (such as oily crayons, according to Pilar).

There are differences in the drawing and the pictorial solution of the picture: the artist made adjustments to the outlines of figures and objects, as well as to the location individual elements figures, persons and objects, their variations. So, the location of the wooden clogs was changed

Also, the patient's ear was moved lower during the painting phase.

Bosch usually made the preparatory drawing with a brush of organic black paint, which made it easy to later cover the drawing even with a thin layer. oil paint. And a drawing made in a dry way is less amenable to editing without mixing with painterly layers. Despite all these differences between this painting and other works by Bosch, Pilar Silva emphasizes that this is an original creation of Bosch, both in content, which betrays the artist's extraordinary ingenuity, and in a pictorial manner, demonstrating the power of his talent.