Drolerien mit Mann im Korb

In contrast to Jheronimus Bosch’s (c. 1450–1516)

autonomous drawings (see [4]), the present sheet

functioned as a spontaneous sketch. The figures of a

monster with a bloated belly and a woman standing

on a basket preparing to strike a blow were rapidly

laid down on what is today designated as the verso

of the sheet (fig. 1). They likely represent the artist’s

initial inspiration, which was then more carefully

fleshed out on the recto. Here, too, the scene is dominated

by a basket that extends diagonally into the

depth of the pictorial space. The man kneeling in

the basket is being beaten by a figure holding a lute.

This action appears to frighten a flock of birds that

fly from the man’s bare posterior.1 On the left side,

a woman with a headscarf reacts to these absurd

occurrences with an astounded facial expression

and gesture. The fire tongs in her raised hands

were evidently an afterthought, as her fingers

do not grasp the utensil. On the drawing’s lower,

upper, and right-hand edges, a host of putti-like

figures chase several birds. The basket group, the

old woman, and some of these small figures are

somewhat located in space as indicated by parallel

hatching or short, curved lines, but the inconsistent

placement of these shadings does not lead to a

coherent impression of light from a unified source.

The relatively reduced scale of the putti figures also

precludes a narrative continuity between the two

parts of the depiction, further suggesting that the

work is a sketch.

Scholars have advanced various interpretations of

the drawing that primarily connect the individual

motifs with vernacular sayings and proverbs current

in late fifteenth-century popular culture.2 Moreover,

Pokorny recently demonstrated a connection with

the complex of themes surrounding misogynistic

representations of carnivals as well as the “world

turned upside down” and “power of women” tropes:

as on both sides of the Albertina sheet, caricatural

images of women aggressively wielding household

objects were common at the time. Such symbolic

inversions of gendered power dynamics served

to critique the supposed female dominance over

defenseless, often besotted men.3

Several elements of the scene reappear in other

drawings and paintings by Bosch.4 For instance,

the image of the bare posterior being battered with

an everyday item can be observed in Table with

the Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things in

Madrid: here, a kneeling fool receives blows in the

depiction of Lust, which offers a parodic display of

the repercussions of a purely pleasure-driven

existence.5 With its multilayered allusions to various

human vices, Bosch’s drawing stands at the beginning

of a long series of sixteenth-century works

that looked to the Netherlandish pictorial tradition

in order to reflect on contemporary negotiations of

middle-class urban values.

 

1. For the interpretation of the basket as a hop basket and

of the birds as gierzwaluwen (greed swallows) as well as the

corresponding association with the vices of drunkenness and

greed, see Pokorny 2019.

2. See the overview in Koreny 2012, 230.

3. Pokorny 2019.

4. See the overview in Ilsink et al. 2016a, 540.

5. Jheronimus Bosch, Table with the Seven Deadly Sins and

the Four Last Things, c. 1505–10, oil on wood, 119.5 x 139.5 cm,

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, P002822.

 

Emily J. Peters, Laura M. Ritter (Hg.), AK Tales of the City. Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel, Cleveland Museum of Art 9.10.2022 - 8.1.2023, New Haven 2022, Kat. Nr. 5

Aus einem umgefallenen Hopfenkorb ragen die Beine und das nackte Hinterteil eines vermutlich betrunkenen Mannes. Bosch versteht es, dieses derbe Droleriemotiv, das bereits im 12. Jahrhundert auf einem byzantinischen Räuchergefäß begegnet (Angar 2009, S. 147 – 148, Abb. 4), fantasievoll zu erweitern: Auf dem übergroßen Weidenkorb hockt ein Musikant und hebt seine Laute zum Schlag auf das unbedeckte Gesäß, dem wie in Höllendarstellungen Boschs ein Vogelschwarm – vermutlich dämonische Nachtschwalben (Ziegenmelker) oder Mauersegler (Gierschwalben) – entweicht. Links des Korbes hockt eine alte Frau mit entsetzt erhobenen Händen, denen Bosch nachträglich eine Feuerzange zu halten gab. Rundum spielen nackte Kinder mit Vogeln. Auf der Rückseite (Inv. 7797v) findet sich eine Variation dieser Szene skizziert: Statt des Musikanten hockt hier die „komische Alte“ auf dem Korb und holt mit einem Waffeleisen zum Schlag aus. Neu hinzugekommen ist ein beinloses, auf Krücken stelzendes Höllenmonster, in dessen blasenförmigem Leib die von ihm verschlungenen Sünder angedeutet sind.

Das Blatt wurde von Koreny einem linkshändigen Schüler Boschs zugeschrieben. Dessen OEuvre beinhalte, so Koreny, auch das späte Madrider Heuwagen-Triptychon, mit dem sich der lebendige Figurenstil der Zeichnung vergleichen ließe. Das Albertina- Blatt besitzt jedoch keine Hinweise auf eine Linkshändigkeit seines Urhebers. Zudem sind die Konturen der weiblichen Figur auf der Rückseite aus geschwungenen Strichen zusammengesetzt, wie dies für Figurenskizzen und Gemäldeunterzeichnungen Boschs charakteristisch ist.

Bosch, Bruegel, Rubens, Rembrandt. Meisterwerke der Albertina, hg. von K. A. Schröder und C. Metzger, Albertina, Wien, Ostfildern 2013, Abb. 39, S. 90.