Chapter 11     The Crowning with Thorns

THIS PAINTING is important because it demonstrates that Bosch was influenced late in life by Italian artists. The modeling of the figures is no longer Gothic but High Renaissance; Jesus is fleshier, more solid even than he was in the Adoration.
   Unlike traditional versions of the Crowning with Thorns, this one shows hardly a trace of violence or menace. The crown of thorns (which looks like a halo) is not even touching Jesus' head. The crossbowman's face is grim, but the oakleaf man has a look of wry concern. The burgher seems to be holding the flimsy garment together instead of trying to rip it off. Jesus, whose hands are crossed over his private parts to keep the old man from meddling with them, looks out at us with a resigned expression, as if to say, "We both know what this is all about."

Bosch, Crowning with Thorns. London, National Gallery.

    The man in the lower right is dressed as a burgher, but his gesture is that of a priest elevating the host. The old man in the lower left corner has a crescent on his headdress but does not look Moorish, and I think he is intended for a Jew, perhaps the High Priest who condemned Jesus in the bible story. The man in the upper left has a broad-headed quarrel stuck through his turban, a bolt used in fowling; he is a hunter, not a soldier, in spite of his mailed fist.
   The man in the upper right wears a spiked collar, which probably means he is under the sway of the Dominicans. According to Foster and Tudor-Craig, his oakleaf badge identifies him with the della Rovere popes, "in particular ... Giuliano della Rovere (1443-1513) who had become Pope Julius II in 1503." Together, the four men seem to represent all those who committed acts of dishonor in Jesus' name.

Bosch, Crowning (details).

   Beyond this, the painting is full of images of male sexual anatomy. The crossbowman's sleeve hangs in a repetitive pattern of three shapes like that of a fifteenth-century purse. Such a purse, often worn with a dagger through it, usually hung from the belt but was occasionally carried on the end of a staff. That this is a genital shape is quite clear when we see it again in Jesus' robe, penetrated as it is by the phallic thrust of the burgher's arms.

Bosch, Crownig(detail).

      The strange floating end of the crossbowman's turban takes the form of a phallic arrowhead (above). The part of Jesus' filmy robe on our left has the shape of a giant erect penis (best viewed upside down).

Bosch, Crowning (detail).

Next