medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Hi John,
You wrote:
>As you say, Bavo is often portrayed with a falcon on his wrist, as in these
well known examples by Bosch:
http://tinyurl.com/2klu6z
and by Geertgen tot Sint Jans:
http://www.chinaoilpainting.com/htmlimg/image-29203.htm
>But he isn't always. Here, for example, he has a book and a staff but is
not portrayed as a knight and has no falcon:
http://tinyurl.com/yt25j9
Expanded image:
http://www.kikirpa.be/image/A/4/6/a46081_std.jpg
I'm aware of that. Bavo is one of those saints who have two iconographies:
the nobleman with falcon and sword and the hermit with a staff, stone,
purse, book and sometimes a little cart or a tree. The nobleman is most
often dressed in costly clothes, with at least a wide mantle falling in many
folds, a jewelled headband or crown (sometimes a jewelled hat), and the
falcon sits on his left, gloved hand. In the other hand he usually carries
the sword (but Bosch's Bavo doesn't > he has his own iconography; notice the
purse?)
Does portrayal as a knight _require_ the presence of a falcon? Might this
not be an image of a knight who has given up worldly pursuits (the falcon)
for religion (the book)?
Hm. My enormous tome, De Heiligen (the Saints, 1176 pages) by Stijn van der
Linden (Amsterdam and Antwerp 2002), says that as a nobleman he does not
carry a book, he only does that as a hermit. Of course the Geertgen painting
shows the saint in armour carrying the falcon (no nobleman went hunting in
his armour!) but I think you'll find very few instances of this type of
imagery of Bavo. Furthermore: when he cariies a book it's always open and
clearly visible, not wrapped in a leather cover. And as a knight/nobleman he
does not wear a staff but a sword. Is the item in his left hand a damaged
sword? I think only the Met will be able to give us the answer. But if it's
just a statue of a knight in armour, it's not that strange that he should
sport a weapon like that. Main thing is; he's definitely not carrying a
hunting bird and that's the typical thing for St Bavo to do while portrayed
as a nobleman.
Henk
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