Ship of Fools

If you are familiar with the story of Jesus Christ performing miracles, then you may recall that the Bible tells the story of Jesus healing a leper.

"When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” - Matthew

About 2 hundred years following Jesus' miracle, leprosy - which is a contagious disease that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves, causing discoloration and lumps on the skin and, in severe cases, disfigurement and deformities - was still some what rampant, and during the High Middle Ages, "Leprosariums" were built as a place to house the sick and afflicted.  It is interesting to note that by the end of the Crusades, there were over 2,000 leper facilities in France (1226) - - 43 leprosariums in Paris alone!

By the 15th Century, these buildings were empty as the disease dissipated, and very naturally - "social outcasts" or "fearful figures" such as beggars or vagabonds, criminals, the insane and otherwise "dangerous minds" began to occupy the empty houses. Other facilities were turned into hospitals or homes for the poor.  Another point that should be made is that townspeople did not want to house criminals or "madmen", they were often expelled to these houses.  

But the stigma of those afflicted with leprosy would remain, "With an altogether new meaning an in a very different culture, in the form of a rigorous division which is social exclusion but spiritual reintegration." 

A literary creation was hence born.  "Ship of Fools" - a satire or allegory - was written by Sebastian Brant, who was a German theologian,  in 1491 was published from Basel, Switzerland.  The "Ship of Fools", a.k.a. "Narrenschiff" [German].

During this era, it was not uncommon for "madmen" to be dropped off at various ports, where they tended to congregate at shrines where they were often arrested, publicly whipped or tortured in some manner, or simply ran out of cities.  

In his fabled work of religious satire, Brant suggests that the these "fools" [madmen] were from a country of fools known as  "Narragooni", or "Narragonia" where the fools had existed in a sort of paradise. 

Apparently, a ship laden with fools and steered by fools sails to the fools' paradise of Narragonia. He further gives wings to this alleged paradise by deliberately contriving a fictional Saint which he imagines to be the Patron Saint of the "vulgar and coarse", known as Saint Grobian.  [The word "grobian" has thus passed into the English language as an obscure word for any crude, sloppy, or buffoonish person.]

The book's status was actually an unprecedented best seller and the author's own social status as a licensed juristic, enabled him to teach Canon Law and Roman Law; thereby giving this work literary value.  

Though he was a wealthy, devout Christian, Brant was compelled to explore mankind's behavior in a "fallen world,"  believing that the causes of what he deemed "foolishness" was another word for ungodliness; and that 'God had given people reason, and people who were "foolish" gave rise to having lax moral views which undermined the mission that God asks of mankind'. 

Brant set out to write a collection portraying foolish behavior, writing 112 chapters of rhyming texts, (complete with the same number of woodcut illustrations by a renowned artist) where he describes the effects of having strayed from God and engaging in irrational behavior(s).  

His work is laden with satire, believing that the world would end and that in the Second Coming of the World, people must have a willingness to repent sins, to take absolution and to live out one's life in complete faith, to avoid Divine Damnation; thus, the Ship of Fools gives the reader a tragically comical perspective of foolish behavior, and sailing off to Narragonia - a fool's paradise or utopia - and that by living under the rule of God will defeat 'foolish conduct," meaning that by following God's law, one could ultimately find the path to Salvation.

Another aspect of the book, is that by casting people into a boat, that the water itself would represent a "cleansing"; thereby helping those afflicted to become free of sin.

The debate still continues whether the book "Ship of Fools" is humanist work or just a reminder of Medieval sensibilities.

Illustrative Woodcuts from the "Ship of Fools",  by artist-engraver Albrecht Dürer, along with translated quotes from the book: 

"Who puts himself between two stones, / And twisting words with glee condones, / Will soon earns ills and moans."

"Some men with plows are very spry, / Yet end in trouble by and by, / The cuckoo finds their eggs on high."

"My rope pulls many fools about, / Ape, cuckold, ass, and silly lout,,/ Whom I seduce, deceive, and flout."

"He merits future poverty / Who always lives in luxury, / And joins the spendthrifts' revelry."

"Who to wisdom steadily pays heed, / And accordingly directs his every need, / Eternal honor shall be his meed."

"Who never learns the proper things / Upon his cap the dunce bell rings, / He's led by idiot's leading strings."

Lover's Eyes

These incredibly detailed portrait miniatures, which show only they eye of the "sitter" (the person who would give the portrait to a secret lover, perhaps) were intensely popular for a very brief time from around 1790 to 1830.  Lover's Eyes were often created as a token for unsanctioned love, considered very intimate and yet quite mysterious, were delicately rendered on ivory or copper.  They were statements of wealth, as you can see, set in various jewels symbolizing marriage, death, infidelity, remembrance, devotion or a secret promise. 

Most of the miniature portraits that survive today are unknown, adding more mystery for the collector.  The "feverish mania" for these objects were stopped being produced as quickly as they came into fashion, but what is left is how the Lover's Eyes began its popularity in the first place.  salon.com explains the portrait's scandalous origin and popularity:

"According to lore, the story of lover’s eyes goes back to the end of the 18th century, when the prince of Wales — who later became George IV — became smitten with a twice-widowed Catholic woman named Maria Fitzherbert. He courted Maria Fitzherbert rather unsuccessfully at first; he kept trying to win her affection and profess his undying love to her, and she wasn't really going to have any of that. Finally, he staged a kind of half-hearted suicide attempt (I think it was more of a cry for help than an earnest effort to take his own life) — and then she reluctantly agreed to marry him. 

But shortly thereafter — I think really the next day — she came to her senses and realized what exactly she had done by consenting to marry the prince of Wales, which of course was totally illegal according to the laws (first of all, the king had to consent to the marriage of the heir to the throne, and second, he would never have consented for the prince to marry a Catholic, let alone a twice-widowed Catholic six years his senior).

So Fitzherbert fled to the Continent, trying to escape George’s attention, but he didn’t give up. On Nov. 3, 1785, the prince wrote to Mrs. Fitzherbert with a second proposal of marriage. Instead of sending an engagement ring, as we might expect today, he sent her a picture of his own eye, set in a locket, painted by the miniaturist Richard Cosway, one of the celebrated artists of the day. At the time, they referred to these pieces as “eye miniatures”; today we call them “lover’s eyes,” but that wasn’t a period term — that’s a term coined by the New York-based jeweler Edith Weber, who’s handled a lot of these over the years.

Anyway, George sent a note with this eye miniature, and it said: “P.S. I send you a parcel, and I send you at the same time an eye. If you have not totally forgotten the whole countenance, I think the likeness will strike you.” It’s not known whether it was the letter or the eye that changed Mrs. Fitzherbert’s feelings precisely, but shortly after that, she returned to England and married the prince in a secret ceremony on Dec. 15, 1785. Soon, the fad for these eye miniatures began to catch on — so this episode is, according to legend, the genesis of the eye miniature.

There is some evidence to suggest that these had appeared in France a few years earlier, and that the Brits were only adopting a French invention; I think the jury’s still out. In any event, the love affair between the prince of Wales and Maria Fitzherbert popularized these objects and spawned a fad that lasted well into the 1830s — and even later, past Queen Victoria, who was known to have commissioned a number of these objects during her reign. There are even artists to this very day who are painting lover’s eyes. One is the great-great-grandson of the famous Philadelphia portraitist Thomas Sully; he’s sent me a picture of a miniature he’s working on. Rather than paint on elephant ivory, which of course wouldn't be legal nowadays, he paints on mastodon ivory. He also points out that he usually has them commissioned by faithful spouses, not lovers or mistresses."