DOI Heft:
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DOI Artikel:Paszkiewicz, Piotr: Noctural bird of wisdom: symbolic functions of the owl in emblems
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18898#0069
the juggler plays his trick with a frog while his assistant managcs to deprive her of her purse.
Humań stupidity was one of the most important problems with which Bosch was conccrned.
It is also the subject of his painting entitled Cure of Folly showing a surgical treatmcnt frequently
performed in the 15th and 16th centuries, in the course of wich a stone, allcgedly the cause of
the patient's mental derangement, was removed33. In all versions of the painting (with the excep-
tion of that in the Prado), the owi is one of the compositional elements24. As was shown
by L. Brand Philip, there is no doubt that the stone displayed by the quack's assistant has not
been removedfrom the patient's head but has been provided by the partners in order to convince
the spectators as to the veracity of the treatment26. The bandaging of the head going on in the
background, the head being undoubtedly that of the patient, may be of considerable meaning
for the understanding of the content of the composition. This action was pointed out by D. Bax
who ąuoted the Dutch expression Jemand theet binden met doecxkens which, in addition to its
basie meaning, i.c. ,,to bandage one's head with a kerchief" also connotes „to dcceive somebody"26.
In this context, it is hardly supiising that the painter placed an owi inside a stone niche over
the smali table at which the operation is carried out. As with many other paintings by Bosch,
it does not play any essential role with regard to the message of the composition. Its symbolism,
23. A. Boczkowska, Hieronim Bosch. Astrologiczna, symbolika jego dziel, Wrocław—Warszawa—Kraków—Gdańsk, 1977,
p. 43.
24. Versions of tke painting in which the owi appears: Amsterdam, Rijksnwseum; Lambrechts auction in Brusscls, 1927;
former Fidgor collection in Vienna and former Peack collection in Amsterdam, L. Brand Philip, op. cit., figs 30, 32—34.
25. ibid., p. 50.
26. ibid., note 108.
4. An Oivl Dedicated to Minerva, in: F. Schoonhovius, Emblemata..., 1618
63
Humań stupidity was one of the most important problems with which Bosch was conccrned.
It is also the subject of his painting entitled Cure of Folly showing a surgical treatmcnt frequently
performed in the 15th and 16th centuries, in the course of wich a stone, allcgedly the cause of
the patient's mental derangement, was removed33. In all versions of the painting (with the excep-
tion of that in the Prado), the owi is one of the compositional elements24. As was shown
by L. Brand Philip, there is no doubt that the stone displayed by the quack's assistant has not
been removedfrom the patient's head but has been provided by the partners in order to convince
the spectators as to the veracity of the treatment26. The bandaging of the head going on in the
background, the head being undoubtedly that of the patient, may be of considerable meaning
for the understanding of the content of the composition. This action was pointed out by D. Bax
who ąuoted the Dutch expression Jemand theet binden met doecxkens which, in addition to its
basie meaning, i.c. ,,to bandage one's head with a kerchief" also connotes „to dcceive somebody"26.
In this context, it is hardly supiising that the painter placed an owi inside a stone niche over
the smali table at which the operation is carried out. As with many other paintings by Bosch,
it does not play any essential role with regard to the message of the composition. Its symbolism,
23. A. Boczkowska, Hieronim Bosch. Astrologiczna, symbolika jego dziel, Wrocław—Warszawa—Kraków—Gdańsk, 1977,
p. 43.
24. Versions of tke painting in which the owi appears: Amsterdam, Rijksnwseum; Lambrechts auction in Brusscls, 1927;
former Fidgor collection in Vienna and former Peack collection in Amsterdam, L. Brand Philip, op. cit., figs 30, 32—34.
25. ibid., p. 50.
26. ibid., note 108.
4. An Oivl Dedicated to Minerva, in: F. Schoonhovius, Emblemata..., 1618
63