Van Baaren 1985a
“Het werk van Jeroen Bosch en de waarde van accuraat waarnemen” (Th.P. van Baaren) 1985
[in: Tijdschrift voor Nederlands en Afrikaans, vol. 3, nr. 1-2 (May-September 1985), pp. 103-110]
Van Baaren points out that we have to be very careful when trying to give symbolical interpretations to birds in Bosch’s paintings that cannot be determined in an exact way. Of course symbolical interpretations of birds that were realistically depicted by Bosch are also only valid if they are based on correct determinations. Van Baaren then offers some examples of wrong determinations in the literature about Bosch, and corrects them where possible.
The author also signals some examples of wrong observation in Bosch literature. He justly warns of the facts that prejudice can strongly influence observation and that observation and interpretation are bound to mingle too easily.
[explicit 13th August 2012]
