There’s nothing like Bosch. Those who’ve been to the Prado, know. Please let me know your thoughts on the artist, his works, and when The Conjuror is again on view.
DECEPTION AND MISDIRECTION: HIERONYMUS BOSCH’S THE CONJUROR
By Philip McCouat
The Journal of Art in Society
Excerpt…
The centre of the painting is dominated by the wooden table. This divides the trickster (on our right) and the onlookers, on our left. The trickster, in a red cloak with black top hat reminiscent of a circus ringmaster, is holding up a shining little ball between his thumb and forefinger. Hanging from his belt is a wicker basket with what looks like an inquisitive owl poking its head up. The trickster’s expression is, to my eyes, rather sly, and he has a slight smirk (Fig 2). His large nose is hooked, a feature traditionally associated with Jews in medieval painting but, by Bosch’s time, more likely a general reference to deceit, equating moral and physical crookedness [3]. At the trickster’s feet is a small dog, dressed in what appears to be a joker’s outfit.
The onlookers represent a cross-section of the public. Notably they include a nun, with her white cowl, and a well-dressed patrician lady whose companion’s hand rests on her shoulder as he points to something, possibly the actions of the thief [4].
Bent over the table, with eyes fixed on the trickster is the dupe, a person of indeterminate gender [5], who is vomiting out what close examination reveals is a glistening dark frog (Fig 3). Drool drips down the dupe’s front. A child crouches at the dupe’s feet, toy whirligig in hand, looking up at the dupe with an expression of bemusement at his/her folly and, maybe, of the credulousness of the other adults.
On the extreme left is a spectacled man in a monk-like outfit with a white robe, black jerkin and a brown headdress. He is staring over-innocently up into the sky (or maybe pretending he is blind), as he surreptitiously cuts the dupe’s purse from his belt. Interestingly, he closely resembles the art-fancier in Pieter Bruegel's later The Painter and the Connoisseur (c 1565) [5a].
On the table are two small white upturned containers (one with a small ball on top), a larger brass container, two more balls, a wand, and another frog, which presumably has been previously vomited up by the dupe. A round hoop rests against the front of the table, presumably intended for performing tricks with the dog.
In the background is a high dark wall, ill-kempt, with weeds growing on it, under a glowering sky which gives a claustrophobic effect to the whole scene. At the top left is an obscure circular window, with an indistinct image of a crane perched, looking upwards. There is little else in this background to distract our attention from the action of the trickster.
Continues…
https://www.artinsociety.com/deception-and-misdirection-hieronymus-boschrsquos-the-conjuror-248552.html
PS: Do you enjoy the work of Remedios Varo?
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