The frivolous bath scene is almost 500 years old, but it immediately catches your eye when you walk through the collection of the Basel Art Museum. Is this “Parship” in the pre-digital era? The painting is by Hans Bock the Elder and was made in 1597, as evidenced by an inscription on the wall at the bottom left. The size of the painting allows a first conclusion about the patronage and its use: the genre scene is a typical cabinet piece for a private context.
The swimmers sit in a brick spring, with an alpine landscape suggested in the background. Like a proscenium stage, the action in the water is focused on us. The men, who are elevated on a balustrade and are the only fully dressed men, are counter-figures to the person looking in front of the photo and confirm that a male gaze is mainly being served here. The two oversized garments thrown over the railing seem like an invitation to quickly take off your clothes and join in the fun.
A comparison with another bathing scene, the much better-known painting made some 50 years earlier, also suggests that it was commissioned by a private male client. “Fountain of Youth” by Lucas Cranach the Elder Cranach was a court painter in Saxony and created his manly fantasy for the chambers of a prince (his picture later passed to the kings of Prussia and today hangs in the Berlin Picture Gallery). In Cranachs “Fountain of Youth” However, only women are present. They climb into the water on the left, marked by age, and emerge on the right side of the photo rejuvenated, fresh and ready for the princely private chamber.
It is unlikely that Hans Bock knew Cranach’s original painting. However, a number of images of bathing scenes circulated at the time in the form of woodcuts and engravings. The historian Sarah-Maria Schober has some of these scenes for her extensive study “Society in excess” on the organization of early modern society in Basel. Schober takes the paintings of Hans Bock as a starting point for her research.
Bath scenes were mainly used to illustrate scientific writings on the effects of medicinal springs. Such baths were particularly popular with the Basel population at the time, especially since some – such as Bad Maulburg in the nearby Wiesental – were also easily accessible to poorer people. The more refined Baden, Pfäfers and Leuk were reserved for the wealthier classes. Bock provides unmistakable proof of this: no matter how naked the women in his bathroom are, almost all of them have their heavy gold chains on.
The treatise “About medicinal baths” (1559) by the Basel physician Jakob Huggel shows on the title page a scene that is more subdued than Bock’s, but with the jug prominently placed in the center of the foreground and the Cupid figure on the fountain, it is already a first. discreet allusion to the hoped-for healing effect, namely that fertility increases. Other illustrations in the book are less reserved: there is unashamed cuddling.
A multi-part woodcut by Sebald Beham offers something even heartier. This includes aiming a gigantic enema syringe at a woman’s buttocks. With this suggestive performance, Beham shows which fantasies brought bath culture to fruition. His work indirectly proves that such images were apparently not offensive, at least not in the circles for which they were intended.
The erotic bath fantasies had their origins in a medieval body image influenced by the ancient theory of bodily fluids. According to her, the body, with its various openings and secretions, was considered porous in its entirety, permeable to all kinds of fluids.
This “liquid” body image led to an unusual way of interacting with the healing springs from today’s perspective: people often sat in them for up to eight hours. This explains why Hans Bock has his swimmers sit around a table in the water, as if it were a flooded salon. To combat boredom, they enjoy reading, making music, drinking wine and eating – and various hobbies.
The representation of the bathroom as a contact exchange with an expected chain reaction certainly corresponded to a convention. Rumors about the mysterious active ingredients of the “Badenfahrt” and similar treatments were widespread. A sharp-tongued contemporary noted that not only a previously supposedly barren woman, but also her maid and even her dog had returned from Baden pregnant. The ‘miracle cures’ owed less to charitable sources than to the amorous adventures in the spa sphere.
The various cups and other vessels depicted in Bock’s painting, from which people sometimes drink and sometimes pour water, as well as the grape presented in a woman’s hand, were clearly understood by his contemporaries as metaphors for fertility and sexuality. Finally, the motif of the heavily pregnant woman in the foreground removes any remaining doubts.
It can be assumed that the unknown client for Bock’s celebration of sensual pleasures was the Basel elite of the time. There is some evidence for this. Hans Bock (around 1550–1624), originally from Alsace, was a master in the Basel Kleinmann painters’ guild from 1572 and began to establish himself as a commissioned painter for the Basel bourgeoisie. He also received public commissions. Today he is considered the most important artist in Basel after the era of Hans Holbein. In the same way he made designs for the facade paintings that were popular in Basel.
He also worked as a scientific illustrator, most notably for the medical professor Felix Platter. For the famous Basel legal scholar Basilius Amerbach (1533–1591) he drew up the systematic excavations of the Roman ruins in Augst (Kaiseraugst), which had begun at the time. Amerbach was also one of Bock’s most important clients and had his portrait painted by him.
This portrait, together with the famous Amerbach cabinet, came into the possession of the Basel Art Museum. For the “Bad in Nice” However, Amerbach is less of an option because the Kunstmuseum Basel only purchased the work in 1872.
SubscribeA further clue can be found by comparing the “bathroom” with the “Dance of Venus” by Hans Bock, as done by the Basel historian Susanna Burghartz. According to her, it’s part of it “Dance of Venus” in the context of the ‘bath’ and also emerged after 1590. The first thing that stands out in this comparison is that Bock “Bad in Nice” a figure of him “Dance of Venus” quoted: the seated woman in the right foreground, who, however, is in the “Dance of Venus” is not depicted as a pregnant woman.
Above all, the exuberant operatic scenario with naked dancers, some of whom assume obscene poses, can be interpreted, comparable to Bock’s ‘Bad’, as a painted commentary on a serious change in Basel society at the time for the artist. Basel was a stronghold of humanist discourse in the 16th century. In the relevant social circles in which Bock’s clients also found themselves, reference was made to the Italian Renaissance and its appeal to age-old ideals.
However, the Reformation also made itself felt quite late in Basel. In 1597, the year Bock’s bath scene was created, the Council of Basel, at the instigation of the Reformed clergy, issued a stricter moral mandate. This was also directed against the ‘Italian friends’ and their sensual ideals.
As a commissioned painter, Bock was bothered by this development. His designs for painting Basel Cathedral with scenes from ancient mythology, approved by the council in 1592, were criticized as ‘idolatry’ by the reformed Basel churchwarden Johann Jacob Grynaeus. In the “Dance of Venus” as well as inside “Bad in Nice” Bock, who represented the circles for whom the moral guardians were too strict and who had supported his work, let off a lot of steam.
Social places and occasions such as the bathroom and the dance event, where individuals meet outside their daily routine, were ideal for making the codes in force visible and at the same time testing them.
Even 300 years later, after it was purchased for the Basel Art Museum in 1872, Bock’s genre scene still managed to thrill Basel residents. The subtle erotic richness of allusions “Bad in Nice” This meant that the painting could only be viewed in the curator’s office. It is also a testament to how social norms are changing, especially when it comes to the portrayal of nudity and sexuality – and in this regard also adds perspective to the discussions currently taking place in our society.
Source: Blick
I am Ross William, a passionate and experienced news writer with more than four years of experience in the writing industry. I have been working as an author for 24 Instant News Reporters covering the Trending section. With a keen eye for detail, I am able to find stories that capture people’s interest and help them stay informed.
