erwin pokorny - bosch s cripples and drawings by his imitators

8/13/2019 Erwin Pokorny - Bosch s Cripples and Drawings by His Imitators

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Bosch's Cripples and Drawings by His ImitatorsAuthor(s): Erwin PokornySource: Master Drawings, Vol. 41, No. 3, Early Netherlandish Drawings (Autumn, 2003), pp.293-304Published by: Master Drawings AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1554624Accessed: 24/10/2009 14:45

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B o s c h s r ipp les n dDrawings y i s Imitators

ErwinPokorny

In the art of the late Middle Ages, the inclusion ofcrippled beggars generally signified an appeal toChristian compassion.They can be found in pictori-al cycles on the Seven Acts of Mercy or in devotional

images in the company of compassionatesaints.Yetthese malformed figures generally failed to arousesympathy n contemporaryviewers,but ratherevokedthe widespreadfear of deformity,poverty,and disease.The prevailingnotion that spiritualqualitiesleft theirmark on the physical self, that an ugly body housedan equally unsavorysoul, stampedthe typology of thebeggar as surelyas did the notion that physicalhand-icaps were either one's own fault or God's punish-ment for living a dissolute life. The change in theimage of the beggarover the course of the fourteenthand fifteenthcenturiesresultedmainlyfrom social andeconomic changes,the negativeeffects of which weremultiplied by naturalcatastrophes,wars,andepidemics.Beggars overwhelmed charitable nstitutions and con-stitutedan affrontto the risingmiddle classwith theirperceivedidleness,unruliness,and deceitfulways.Anti-beggar sentiment began to be expressedin literatureas early as around 1400,' but only with the spreadofprinting did it become universal.2A particularlynflu-ential example is the chapter in Sebastian Brant'sNarrenschffShipofFools)of 1494, in which the authorcharacterized the majority of beggars as swindlers.3This opinion was sharedby such authoritiesasErasmusand Martin Luther,and eventually led to the estab-lishment of prisons and workhouses.Like Brant, Hieronymus Bosch (d. 1516) was amoralist with a droll sense of humor who placed his

art in the service of strict,middle-class mores. It haslong been noted that Bosch's depictions of beggarsare distinctly negative.4 t mattersnot that most of thesurviving images of beggars attributedto him are byother hands, for it is certain that his many imitatorsincorporatedhis inventions into their own composi-tions. One of the best-known examples is the drawncopy in the Albertina,Vienna, depicting thirty crip-ples and a fool (Fig. 3).5 Bosch's particularfascina-tion with such figuresappears o have fed on the greatvariety of possible deformities that could be easilyobserved in his day.Recently, a group of Dutch physi-cians attemptedto diagnose the infirmitiesrepresent-ed by the cripples in this drawing. They not onlyidentified afflictions resulting from ergot poisoning,syphilis, eprosy,and the like,but also determined thatsome of the figureswere faking.6One is particularlystruck by the number of amputees.From other pic-tures by Bosch's circle, it is clear that missing limbsindicate time in prison, since a leg iron often lies onthe ground next to the severed foot.7

The only representationsof cripples that can beassignedwith certaintyto Bosch are those in the outerwings of the LastJudgmentriptych of about 1505 inthe Akademie der bildenden Kiinste,Vienna. In theright-hand wing, to the left behind St. Bavo, crouch-es an especially repulsivefellow who tries to evokeour sympathy by placing a severed foot on the groundin front of him (Fig. 1). According to Brant, the beg-gar could easily have snatched the shriveled foot froma corpse,8 which is why Bosch possibly used it hereas a symbol of deceit.9 The meaning of the coin-size

293


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Figure3 Followerof HIERONYMUS BOSCH.Cripples and Beggars.Vienna,Albertina.

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Vienna triptych,who also displays he disk-shaped ore(Fig. 2). With his bad leg supported by a rope slingaround his neck, he resemblesa figure in the centerof the sheet of studies in Vienna (Fig. 3). Anotherdetail connects him to that drawing as well: the hol-low bone affixed to the bottom of his crutch. Suchbones can appearas well on the wooden leg of a crip-ple, on the walking stick of a crazed old woman,'6oreven on the devil as a boot.'7 Since this feature isalways only found on one crutch in a pair, it wasunlikely meant to be understood as a device to pro-tect the wood,'8but rather t appears o function sym-bolically. It may suggest-like the empty wine jarsattached to the legs of numerous devils-that glut-tony and intemperance lead to poverty-or perhapsit plays on the double meanings of the Dutch wordsfor bone: been also means leg, as in the proverb

op een been kan men niet lopen (you can'trun onone leg), and bot also means dull or stupid. '9 heplural form botten s identical to the verb to bud,with its secondary meaning to cheat. 2 n this con-text, it should be mentioned that krukcan mean notonly crutch, but also swindler or crook. Hereone is reminded of the proverb De leugen gaat opkrukken (lies walk on crutches),which is similar tothe German adage Liigen haben kurze Beine (lieshave short legs).2' By the middle of the sixteenth cen-tury,the symbolic significance of the attached boneshad been forgotten: in an engraving of the Viennadrawingof beggars printed in Antwerp around 1560,they are nowhere to be seen (Fig. 5).22Bosch's intention in his art was altogetherthe sameas Brant's n his Narrenschiffoth wished to steer view-ers or readers toward a virtuous way of life by pre-senting highly unsavoryexamples of human behaviorin an entertainingway.As a living grotesque, he crip-pled beggarwas ideallysuited for this purpose.He hadalready imped through the drolleriesof late medievalbooks of hours to providecomic relief- like the fools,monkeys, and fabulous beasts-and to emphasize themoralist content.23As the antithesis of ideal beauty,which was alwaysassociatedwith nobility of character,the cripplewas moreovera distortedsymbol of humanbaseness,and as such lent himself to satire.Thus thelegend on the above-mentionedengraving equatesthe

depicted crippleswith corruptclericswho fail to walkstraight n their eagerness or fat rewards.24The engravingnames Bosch as its inventor,whichpresumably explains the traditionalattribution of theAlbertina drawing.The late Hans Mielke based hisargument in support of that attributionon the earlywatermark of a related drawing in the BibliothequeRoyale, Brussels(Fig.7).25That sheet shows thirty fig-ures-including two fools and a woman giving alms-distributed at random across the page. Some of thebeggars appearto have been based on known proto-types. The cripple with the fluttering cloak angrilyswinging his crutch close to the left edge recalls asimilarly igure in the HayWain triptychin the Prado,Madrid.26And the beggar on the right, with one legheavily bandaged and the other bent outward, soclosely resembles a figure seen from the back in theupper right of the Vienna drawing that they seem tobe two views of a single prototype.

Since the Brussels drawing carries an apocryphalBruegel signature, cholars have associatedboth draw-ings with Pieter Bruegel the Elder. However, closeexamination of the two drawingsreveals that neithercan be by either Bruegel or Bosch. They are,more-over,very different from each other. The style of theBrusselsdrawing is more spontaneousand sketchy.Inaddition,it is possible to make out in it a number ofpentimenti.Accordingly,this must be the work of anearly imitatortrying out his own variationson Boschinventions.By contrast, he extreme control and three-dimensional modeling of the drawing in Vienna, aswell as its wealth of detail, identify it as a conscien-tious copy or a finished drawing.Even so, both worksmay have served the same function: in the manner ofmedieval patternbooks, they brought together exam-ples of beggars and fools for use by members of theartist' workshop or by others outside the studio.Thetwo drawingsperhapsrelate to their hypothetical pro-totypes in much the same way as the sheet with var-ious figuresin Providence relates to Bosch's studiesofmonsters in Berlin.27Similar compilations of motifsare found in prints as well. For example, Israhel vanMeckenem, in a vertical format engraving, broughttogether depictions of children, alone or in pairs,which had been invented by the Master of the

296


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Figure 4 HIERONYMUS BOSCH.The LastJudgment.Detail.Vienna,Akademie er bildendenKunste.

Housebook.28 In addition to their use by artists, uchcollections of figures were included as diagrammaticbook illustrations in bestiaries or travel narratives,offering greater nterestto the subjectand a semblanceof scholarlyauthority.

Despite their scattereddistributionon the page, afew of the figures in the two drawings of cripples(Figs.3, 7) relate to each other, and thus are provid-ed with a compositional context. For example,in theVienna sheet, a lute-playingfool appears o be exhort-ing the grotesque assemblyto join in a dance, whilein the Brussels drawing, two fools have been addedat the right center as if to signify the group of fig-ures as an allegory on folly and vice. The alternationbetween isolated figures and these related groupings,with no clearspatialrelationshipconnecting them, wasapparently ntended.Because of this obvious ambivalence in concept,the two drawings must be viewed as independentworks of art quite aside from their function as pat-tern sheets. Given their curious subject matter,theywould have been perfectly at home in a Kunst-undWunderkammer.hat both were indeed used as pat-terns nonetheless is apparent rom a feature they havein common. Above the heads of many of the figures

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Figure 5 After HIERONYMUSOSCH.Cripplesand Beggars.Engraving.Vienna,Albertina.

are little circles made with a dark crayon- appar-ently to mark a particularselection. Some of thesemarks have been nearly rubbed off, and presumablysome have disappearedaltogether.Twenty-one suchmarks are still visible on the Vienna drawing,only fiveon the one in Brussels.We know that the Viennadrawingservedas the model for an engraving,and forthat purpose no selection would have been necessary.The engravershiftedthe positions of some of the fig-ures slightly,but he did not omit any of them. Thus,the selection must have been made for some othercomposition, and indeed, a Brusselstapestryincorpo-rates individual figures from both drawings.It seemsworthwhile, therefore, to try to determine whetherthe circles had something to do with the preparato-ry work for the tapestry.

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Figure 6 Followerof HIERONYMUS BOSCH. St. Martin with Cripplesand Beggars.Tapestry.San Lorenzo, l Escorial.

The tapestry n question,from a five-partcycle pro-duced in Brussels n 1566 for CardinalGranville, rch-bishop of Mechlin,now hangs n the Escorial(Fig. 6).29It depicts a young man on horseback surroundedbybegging cripples.Others in the cycle reproducedBosch'sGardenof EarthlyDelights,a version of his Hay Wain,and a Temptationf St.Anthony.The last of these com-positions, featuringan elephant,has been lost. An ear-lier edition of the series is describedquite precisely nan inventory drawn up for King Francis I in 1542,which date serves as a terminus ntequem or the pro-totype of the cycle that survives.We know nothingabout the circumstancesof this cycle' s manufacture.However, romtapestryprojects hat are more fullydoc-umented,it is possibleto reconstruct he working pro-cedure.First, f it is a new invention,the paintermade298

a presentationdrawing.Once the patronhad approvedit, the so-called Patronenmaler,r patternpainter, rans-ferred the design onto a full-size working pattern.Thetapestrywas then produced directlyabove this cartoon,woven from the back,so that the front side showed thedesign in reverse.30This is why the tapestry copy ofthe Garden f EarthlyDelights eproduced ts threepan-els as a mirrorimage of the painting.The same is truein partof the Hay Wain, lthoughthe compositionwasconsiderablyaltered n that design.31 s no prototypeisknown for the tapestryshowing the Temptationf St.Anthony,however, it is possible that the last tapestrywith the elephantwas based on the same Bosch pro-totype as the engravingby Alart du Hamel.32To what extent the Escorialtapestrywith the riderand cripplesfollowed a prototype by the masterhim-


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Cripples and Beggars.Brussels, ibliotli'qlueoyale.

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onded d~nr ar6mrpims iffraOlndr ou?w i yw4Ond,ral,dit Vi:l;,,i rinyrluh a drlrnrJpwtrmwl rf4fwdr Vijdr:movil7rKmmsd

Figure 8 Follower of HIERONYMUS OSCH.St. Martin with Cripples and Beggars in a Harbor. Engraving.Vienna,Albertina.

self we do not know. But by studying individualfig-ures and motifs, some interestingconnections can bemade to the two drawings and to other works byBosch's followers. In the lower right, near the citymoat, a fat cripple is dragging himself along with aharp on his back. The mirror-image of this figureappearsin the center of the Brusselsdrawing.Othermatching figures were noted in 1967 by Otto Kurz:the begging man and woman at the lower left of thetapestry,who are nearly identical to those at the cen-ter of the Vienna drawing.33 he man plays a hurdy-gurdy, while the hunchbacked woman beside himsings. Presumably, hey are both blind:the hurdy-gurdyplayer by tradition,his companion because of the way300

she clings to him. Of the motif of the little dog inthe drawing the tapestry retains only a fragment ofthe leash, which leads one to conclude that the ani-mal was also present in the lost weavers' pattern.Changes of this sort are by no means uncommon.Another version of the tapestry n a Parisprivatecol-lection shows how much freedom was taken in theproduction of such works. There the pair of beggarmusicians was eliminated along with their dog, andthe cripple to the right of them was moved to theleft edge instead.34There are two opinions regardingthe identity ofthe young horseman. Some scholars have argued thathe is St. Martin,35while others see him as St.Anthony


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W^ ^-A ^- a,,W .Figure 9 Follower of HIERONYMUSOSCH.St. Martin with Cripplesand Beggars.Oxford,AshmoleanMuseum.

setting out for his hermitage.36However, the princi-pal attributesof the two saints,the sword and the taucross,are missing. It has been suggested that a scenein the background favors the second interpretation:this shows a mock tournament with blind menattempting to club a pig. But such entertainmentswere evidently a traditionalpart of carnival celebra-tions,not just those of the feast of St.Anthony aanuary17).37Indeed,pig-slaughtering partieswere also stagedin Wiirzburg on St. Martin's Day (November 11),when the animals, called St. Martin's pigs, weregoaded into attackingeach other.38 Customs associ-ated with that day would also explain the subsequentfeast,the drinking bout, and the fire behind the city

gate.But the strongest argumentfor the identificationof the rider as St. Martin is the presence of the crip-pled beggars, who are traditionally associated withhim. Even in the inventory of FrancisI, the tapestryis described as Sainct Martin environne de plusieursmendians. 39Only the sword with which he cut hiscloak in two is lackingfrom this portrayalof the saint,although his mirror-image prototype could certainlyhave held a swordin his right hand.40 he scene shownin the tapestryappears o be a secularallegory, or theyoung horseman is about to trample on a coweringcripple and shows no sign of Christian compassion.Another engravingprintedaround 1560 inAntwerpas a Bosch invention, like the sheet of cripples and301


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the Downfall of the Beggarsby Hieronymus Cock,makes the iconographicconnection to St.Martin evenmore convincing (Fig. 8). It shows the saint at a har-bor standingnext to his horse in a barge;he is thereidentified by his sword,a halo, and even his name. Asin the tapestries,he hasjust left the city and is beingbesieged by beggarsoutside the gate.The backgroundis occupied by a riotous drinking party on a boat, aSt. Martin's bonfire on the pier,and two floatingves-sels upon which fools and beggarsjoust with lances.While the inclusion of a saint might seem out ofplace-for the engraving by no means appeals toChristiancharity- St. Martin'sgenerosity s employedas a contrast to, and thus as a denunciation of, thegreed and excess representedby the beggars.As thelegend beneath the picturerelates,Martin' s gift of hiscloak only servedto unleash a fight over such a prize.4One of the cripples has even climbed on the horseto steal one of the stirrups.

A pen-and-wash drawing in the Ashmolean,Oxford, possibly done around 1600, combines figuresfrom this engravingof St. Martinwith a landscapeofgrotesquesa la Bosch (Fig.9).42This pastichewas basedon other works as well. Three of the figures in thecrowd of people streaming out of the cave on theright correspond-in reverse-to figures n theViennaWayof the Crossby one of Bosch' s pupils,43while thefantastic ountainsculpture s takenfrom the Cleansingof theTemple,which survivesin copies.44 It is the lefthalf of the drawingthat corresponds o the two draw-ings of cripples. Here several figures appear to havebeen modeled after the lost tapestry design, for thetwo pairs of beggars in the lower left corner can beseen in the tapestry-again, in reverse-just to theright of the center.Also, the two figures on crutch-es-one in profile, the other seen from the back-are mirrored in the tapestrybetween the rock cliffand the rider.Two of the beggarsin theVienna draw-ing also follow their original prototype:the one hold-ing a lute in the center and the figure seen from theback at the right edge. A further correspondence isseen in the cripple caught beneath the horse's hoovesand trying to protect himself with his upraisedarmin both the Oxford drawing and the tapestry.Thehorse, however,representsa conflation of two proto-

types: it rears above the crouching figure as in thetapestry,but carries on its back the audacious stirrupthief from the engraving.45Does any of this help explain the little circles onthe Vienna and Brussels drawings?Portions of theOxford drawing were not based on the tapestrybutrather-to judge from the mirror-image correspon-dences-on some prototypecommon to allthree draw-ings.This could have been the presentationdrawing orthe tapestry,he actualcartoon,or even a panel paint-ing. Such a painting would have provided the tapes-try's composition,makingany selection of figuresfromthe Vienna and Brusselsdrawingsunnecessary.f a lostpanel was indeed the model, then the little circleshavenothing to do with the creation of the tapestryafterall, leaving their function as obscure as ever.Erwin Pokorny s a memberof the teampreparing heCorpus of German and NetherlandishDrawingsfrom1300 to 1500 in Vienna and coauthorof EarlyNetherlandish Drawings from Jan van Eyck toHieronymus Bosch (Antwerp, 002).

EDITORS' NOTE: Russell Stockman kindly translated thetext from the German.

1. See J. Huizinga, Herbstdes Mittelalters.Studien uberLebens-und Geistesformen es 14. und 15. Jahrhundertsn Frankreichund in den Niederlanden (The Waning of the Middle Ages),Stuttgart, 1975, pp. 248, 443.

2. See P. Vandenbroeck, Hieronymus Bosch. The CompletePaintingsand Drawings(first published on the occasion ofthe exhibition JheronimusBosch, Museum Boijmans VanBeuningen, Rotterdam, 2001), Ghent and Amsterdam,2001, pp. 113-14.

3. S. Brant, Das Narrenschiff (Basel, 1494), modernized byH. A. Junghans, edited, annotated, and reissued with anafterword by H.-J. Mahl, Stuttgart, 1999, pp. 222-25.4. See O. Kurz, Four Tapestries after Hieronymus Bosch,

Journal of the Warburg nd CourtauldInstitutes,30, 1967, p.160;Vandenbroeck, 2001, p. 116.

5. Inv. no. 7798. Dates to about 1520-60 (?).Pen and brownink; 285 x 208 mm. See F Koreny and E. Pokorny,

Hieronymus Bosch. Die Zeichnungen in Briissel undWien, Delineavit et Sculpsit,24, 2001, pp. 23-27.

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6. J. Dequeker, G. Fabry, L. Vanopdenbosch, De processievan kreupelen naar Jeroen Bosch (ca. 1450-1516): eenhistorischeanalyse, Millenium,ijdschriftoormiddeleeuwsestudies, 15, 2001, pp. 140-53. An earlier version of thisarticle was published in the IsraelMedicalAssociationournal,3, 2001, pp. 864-71. I would like to express my warmestgratitude to Aafje D'hooge and Jos Koldeweij for callingmy attention to these articles.

7. See, for example, the central panel of the famousTemptation f St.Anthonytriptych in Lisbon and its numer-ous copies (R. H. Marijnissen, HieronymusBosch.Das voll-stdndigeWerk,Antwerp 1988, p. 194, repr. ), as well as thetapestry discussed below (see Fig. 8).

8. See Sebastian Brant'sNarrenschiffBrant,1999 ed., p. 224) orthe LiberVagatorum,Von der falschen Better Biiberei ( Onthe Trickery of Evil Beggars ) (Kurz, 1967, pp. 160-61).9. This motif is also found in the upper left corner of theAlbertinadrawing and in other works by followers of Bosch.10. This detail recalls Brant's angry verses claiming that pro-fessional beggars were not above etching wounds andboils on their own children. See Brant, 1999 ed., p. 223.On the other hand, the disk-shaped crust-if that is whatit is-would suggest the skin disease Ecthyma, which iscaused by poor hygiene. I am most grateful to Jan

Dequeker for this medical information. For this woundas a sign of evil, see also P.Reutersward, HieronymusBosch,Uppsala, 1970, pp. 144-47.

11. See R. H. Marijnissen, HieronymusBosch. Das vollstdndigeWerk,Antwerp, 1988, pp. 234-35, 251, repr. (detail).

12. See Marijnissen, 1988, pp. 379, 382, repr. (detail).13. See H. Belting, HieronymusBosch,Garten derLiiste,Munichand elsewhere, 2002, p. 43, repr.14. The traditionally close connection between professional

beggars and pilgrims is also clearly seen in the badgesworn by figures in the Vienna drawing (Fig. 1). See K.Zweerink and J. Koldeweij, Insignes en JheronimusBosch, Heilig en Profaan . Laatmiddeleuuwsensignesuitopenbaren particuliereollectiesRotterdam Papers,12),Cothen, 2001, pp. 207-23.

15. F W. H. Hollstein,Dutch and FlemishEtchings, ngravings,and Woodcuts, a. 1450-1700, vol. 3, p. 138, no. 21 (seealso 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 inBerlin (inv. no. KdZ 547; S. Buck, Die niederldndischen

Zeichnungendes 15. Jahrhundertsm BerlinerKupfer-

stichkabinett.KritischerKatalog,Turnhout, 2001, no. 1.33).18. As proposed by D. Bax, Ontcijfering anJeroen Bosch,The

Hague, 1949, p. 74.

19. For been and bot, see W. Martin and G. A. J. Tops, VanDale groot woordenboek ederlands-Engels,trecht andAntwerp, 1999, pp. 112, 195.

20. I am most grateful to FrankWillaert for this information.21. See L. De Pauw-DeVeen, Das Briisseler Blatt mit Bettlern

und Kriippeln: Bosch oder Bruegel? in PieterBruegelundseine Welt (colloquium, Kunsthistorisches Institut derFreien Universitat Berlin and Kupferstichkabinett derStaatlichen Museen Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz,Berlin, 13-14 November 1975), Berlin, 1979, p. 153.

22. Incidentally, this observation negates the question posedby De Pauw-De Veen of whether the drawing could pos-sibly have followed the engraving (De Pauw-De Veen inPieter Bruegel,1979, pp. 150- 51). See Hollstein, vol. 3, p.144, no. 34.

23. See, for example, some drolleries in the Book of Hours ofMary of Burgundy (Vienna, Osterreichische National-bibliothek, Cod.Vin. 1857), fols. 47v, 48r, 195r, 195 v. Seealso M. Camille,Image n theEdge.TheMargins fMedievalArt, Cambridge, MA, and London, 1992, pp. 132-36, figs.70-73.

24. The legend reads:Al datop den blauwenrughelsack,heerneeeftGaet meestal Cruepele,b beijde ijdenDaeromden CrupelnBisschop,eel dienaers aaftDie om een vetteproue,den rechtenhanckmijden.25. Inv. no. S.II.133.708. Dates to about 1520-40. Pen and

brown ink; 265 x 199 mm. H. Mielke, Pieter Bruegel.DieZeichnungen(Picturanova,vol. 2), Turnhout, 1996, nos. A47, A 48. See also Koreny and Pokorny, 2001, pp. 28-31.

26. Lydia De Pauw-DeVeen has already mentioned this cor-respondence (De Pauw-De Veen in Pieter Bruegel,1979,p. 153). Jacques Combe also pointed out the similaritiesbetween the cripples in the drawings and those sur-rounding he HayWainU.Combe,Jheronimusosch,Paris,1946, p. 46).

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 imspatenMittelalter.er Hausbuchmeisterderder MeisterdesAmsterdamerKabinetts, xh. cat., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam,and Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, 1985, pp. 141-43,figs.59-61, 61g.303


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29. Until only a few years ago, the tapestries hung in Madrid'sPalacio Real, but they have now been placed on per-manent display in the Escorial. P.Junquera de Vega andC. Herrero Carretero, Catalogo de tdpices del PatrimonioNacional,vol. 1, Siglo XVI, Madrid, 1986, pp. 263-67.

30. See R. Bauer, Wie entsteht eine Tapisserie? Zur Technikdes Webens, in R. Bauer and G. J. Kugler, Der KriegszugKaiserKarlsVgegen Tunis.Kartonsund Tapisserien,xh. cat.,Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2001, pp. 127-32.31. Kurz, 1967, p. 15, figs. a-b.32. Hollstein, vol. 3, p. 147, no. 42.33. Kurz, 1967, p. 158.34. G. Delmarcel, with I. van Tichelen, A. Volckaert, and Y.

Maes, Gewirkt in Gold. Flimische Tapisserien us dem Besitzder spanischen Krone, exh. cat., Bayerisches National-museum, Munich, 1993, p. 94, fig. 6.

35. See D. Bax, Als de Blende tzwijn sloughen, Tijdschriftvoor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde,63, 1944, p. 84; L.Brand Philipp, The 'Peddler' by Hieronymus Bosch, aStudy in Detection, NederlandsKunsthistorischaarboek,9,1958, p. 59; Kurz, 1967, pp. 156- 61.Vandenbroeck (2001,p. 115) avoided a precise identification and called thetapestry Saint Leaving the City.

36. See J. K. Steppe, Jheronimus Bosch. Bijtrage tot de his-torische en de ikonografische studie van zijn werk,JheronimusBosch.Bijtragenbij gelegenheidvan de herdenking-stentoonstellinge 's-Hertogenbosch,967, pp. 33-36;Junquerade Vega and Herrero Carretero, 1986, p. 264; A. Volckaertin Gewirkt in Gold, 1993, p. 96.

37. Kurz, 1967, pp. 156-59; Gewirkt in Gold, 1993, p. 96.38. Johannes Boemus (1485-1535) and Sebastian Franck

(1499-1542) recorded this custom. See J. Diinninger andH. Schopf, eds., Briuche und Feste imfrinkischenJahreslaufTexte vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert(Die Plassenburg.Schriften ir Heimatforschung nd Kulturpflegen Ostfranken,30), Kulmbach, 1971, p. 114. I am grateful to Julia Hechtfor directing me to this source.

39. Gewirkt in Gold, 1993, p. 92.40. Vandenbroeck, 2001, p. 115. In the second copy of the

tapestry in a Paris collection, there is even a suggestionof a halo.41. Neither Bosch nor one of his followers invented the

greedy beggar; already in a drawing attributed to theMaster of the Drapery Studies in the Kupferstichkabinett,Berlin, there is a cripple crouching beneath St. Martin'shorse and pulling on the cloak that the saint is in theact 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, char-coal; 365 x 505 mm. See Buck, 2001, p. 309, fig. 144.

43. One can recognize the soldier in the red cloak, the thiefnext to him, and the guard in armor behind them. SeeMarijnissen, 1988, p. 271, repr.

44. G. Unverfehrt, Hieronymus Bosch. Die Rezeption seinerKunst imfriihen 16.Jahrhundert,Berlin, 1980, no. 142, fig.71.45. 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 beggaron horse backe, they saie, and hee will neuer alight(Robert Greene, Card of Fancie); That beggars mount-ed run their horse to death (William Shakespeare,KingHenry VI, Part III); Set a beggar on horseback, and hewill ride a gallop (Robert Burton, Anatomyof Melancholy).

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erwin pokorny - bosch s cripples and drawings by his imitators

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