Hieronymus Bosch as a birder



Detail of the center panel of Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" (public domain)

 We were quite excited to finally visit the Prado Museum in Madrid. They very generously allow free access for the last two hours of the day, and increase it to three on Sunday. Happily I had chosen our hostals to be within easy walking distance.
Other than the Velázquez and the Goya, rightfully the most vital artists in the museum, it was amazing to see this Bosch painting 'in the flesh'. I'm not going to wax about his intentions or meaning, although I must say that I don't see much evidence for condemnation in the central panel, just an amalgam of physical nature and sensuality within a extraordinary range of emotions. What really grabbed my attention was the quantity, the verisimilitude, and the number of species depicted of birds. They are all over the first two panels, while in the hellish panel they are more usually parts of composite nightmarish figures. In the detail above, the large and gorgeously painted bird assemblage includes several of the most iconic European birds. From left to right, a duck (Mallard female?), the Hoopoe, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, European Robin, and European Goldfinch. You can even tell that the woodpecker is a male, due to the detail of the red within its 'moustache'. And let's not leave out the Spoonbill that is strangely riding a cow. Either Bosch was one hell of a bird watcher, without binoculars or other optic aids, or more probably, he had access to a collection of stuffed birds (or, of course, both may well be true!). It is odd that there is a lack of black spots on the Hoopoe's crest; could this be an artifact of taxidermy? It is unlikely having seen one in nature that he would miss these black markings. Perhaps there is a time in its molt or feather wear when these are not present? In any event, these are real rarities in western pictorial art. Most artists, if they portray birds at all, tend to be in the distance or are moralizing elements, like the raven that brings bread as depicted in Velázquez's St. Anthony Abbot and St. Paul the Hermit. These here appear not to be functioning as a symbol, or as a meaning outside of their beautiful physical presence. This lends credence to the lack of judgment operating within this panel. The right panel is, of course, a whole 'nuther ballgame.
There were several other surprisingly good avian representations in the Dutch still life rooms, but always on a string, dead, ready for eating. The partridges and doves are not surprising, but the songbirds like the goldfinch are. The New Yorker  recently had a feature article about the slaughter of declining songbirds in Europe, in particular Malta and Cyprus. The paintings in the Prado show how long this has been a practice. (abstract of article at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/07/26/100726fa_fact_franzen)