Cutting the Stone
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Extraction of the Stone of Madness (The Cure of Folly) (Dutch: De Keisnijding) is a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, completed between 1475 and 1480.
The painting depicts the extraction of the stone of madness, a "keye" (in English a "stone" or "bulb") from a patient's head, using trepanation by a man wearing a funnel hat. In the painting Bosch has exchanged the traditional "stone" as the object of extraction with the bulb of a flower. Another flower is on the table. The inscription reads, "Meester snyt die Keye ras - myne name is lubbert das" (Master, cut away the stone – my name is Lubbert Das). Lubbert Das was a comical (foolish) character in Dutch literature.
Interpretations
It is possible that the flower is a pun on "tulip head" - meaning mad in Netherlands. Another possibility is that the flower hints that the doctor is a charlatan as does the funnel hat. The woman balancing a book on her head is thought by Skemmer to be a satire of the Flemish custom of wearing amulets made out of books and scripture, a pictogram for the word phylactery. Otherwise, she is thought to depict folly.
Attributed works
This painting, and others by Bosch, were an inspiration to the works of the seminal Punk musicians Wire. On their album, "The Ideal Copy", they included a track titled "Madman's Honey" which included the lyric "master cut the stone out, my name is Lubbert Das" -- a direct reference to this Bosch painting.
See also
- List of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch
- Mythology in the Low Countries
- History of surgery
- Stone of madness
