Bruger:KnudW/hest2

Cutting the Stone, also called The Extraction of the Stone of Madness or The Cure of Folly, is a painting by Hieronymus Bosch in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, completed around 1494 or later.

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 Gothic inscription reads

Meester snijt die keye ras
Mijne name Is lubbert das

(in English: "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.

Further reading

• (book on head) Binding Words Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages. Skemer, Don C. PA: Penn State Press, 2006. p. 24, 136n. ISBN 0271027223.