Illustrating the Text: the Fortunatus Woodcuts
"To
illustrate": to elucidate, to amplify, to show, to
light up. This definition could
also be applied to the verb "translate".
The notion of amplification is important, for it is believed that the
act of explanation, of making clear, requires the usage of more words, while
the act of understanding involves concision, and may be expressed in a précis
or in general terse and sententious utterances. Such aphorisms are all too easy to coin,
and equally easy to inflict on others; we pack heavy luggage, then leave it for
overworked porters. There is a
sense of transcending language – of mastering it so that one word can launch a
thousand thoughts. The God of
Taciturnity is worshipped in several cultures; and if his shrine is visited at
certain times, then his other aspect is revealed – the God of
Misunderstandings. There are of
course times when we can 'save' words by expanding our vocabulary, by opening
our minds to the fine distinctions created by the wisdom of our forefathers,
such as that between "syneidesis" and "synteresis" – conscience as a judge of
the past, and conscience as a guide to the future. We sometimes say that the Ancient Greeks
had a word for everything, and the nomination of existence represents a
movement towards precision and concision.
However, such exactness is exacting, and a strain on the mind, which
needs to rest in redundancy from time to time. It is also defeated by time, for words
that walk in the sun cannot avoid the acquisition of a shadow; indeed, the
vagueness, the ultimate imprecision and gentle elusiveness, of words is their
most endearing feature.
Furthermore, no matter how precise the words are, they are not
everything; although every text can survive without illustrations, there is no
text to which a contribution cannot be made through the presence of a visual
accompaniment. It is unfortunate
that illustrated texts are, nowadays, only to be found in the realm of
children's literature.
When a
text captures our imagination, we form our own visual images from the words,
and this is one of the two reasons why it is difficult to appreciate a filmed
version of a text that we have read: the images do not correspond, and we are
forced to see through another's eyes.
With the book before us, we engage in the act of personal revelation;
the author's skill means that his words suggest visualisation, and all that is
required is the participation of a stimulated reader. The problem with film is that it is
difficult for the imagination to follow moving pictures; the viewer is also
compelled to follow another's time.
Illustrations, on the other hand, assist the act of visualisation, and
help to anchor created moments in our mind. It is difficult to separate Phiz from
Dickens, or Tenniel from Carroll; those who have read At the Back of the North Wind will cherish the memory of the
illustrations from the Dalziel studio; and the images of the work of George
Cruikshank, Edgar Heath Robinson, Arthur Rackham, and Pauline Baynes are slow
to leave the mind. I am not at all
receptive to artists' responses to Tolkein – particularly to those of Alan Lee
– for the author's own illustrations to The
Hobbit serve as my visual gateway into Middle-Earth. At this point, illustration and
translation part company, for the most illustrious
illustrators are often contemporary with the authors they represent. This is not always the case, as with
Doré's
Quixote; however, we tend to cherish old illustrations that accompany old
language. New illustrations can
perfectly capture the tone of the work – as with the Folio Society editions of
Bynge's Rides Round Britain and the
excellent memoirs of William Hickey – but they are difficult to accept when
they have predecessors. All
illustrated versions of Peter Schlemihl
cannot free themselves from the shadow of Cruikshank; the elongation of the
characters is the visual equivalent of Chamisso's tone.
Fortunatus is
accompanied by excellent woodcuts, from the workshop of the talented but
neglected Jörg
Breu the Elder (c. 1475-1537); those of the
Occasionally, a figure appears
twice in the same woodcut. Thus
Fortunatus pays the horse-dealer and is also led away by one of the Count of
the Wood's men (12); Andolosia takes his leave of his men, standing and
pointing towards the distance, while also walking away (35); and he both finds
the Wishing-Hat under Agrippina's bed and flies out with her through the window
(40). The artist also telescopes
time in the scene in which horned Andolosia speaks to the hermit while
Agrippina flies away in the background – possibly the most enduring of the visual
images (38). Through such devices,
each image contains and conveys a great deal. The bare description offered here gives
merely an indication of the movement, relationships and reactions portrayed in
the woodcuts; each one is a small window on to the world in action.
A description of the woodcuts
presented below is as follows:
1 The
Fortunatus Icon. A
successful father with epigonic sons.
2 Fortunatus
greets the Earl of Flanders.
3 Jousting.
4 Fortunatus
flees the Earl of Flanders' service with horse, hawk and hound.
5 Fortunatus
rolls up his sleeves, ready to join in the frolics in
6 The
villain Andrea converses with the imprisoned English nobleman in
7 Andrea
dumps the murdered nobleman, who had had the King's precious jewels in
his keeping, in Jeronimus Roberti's privy.
8 The
Roberti household are hung for concealing the murder,
while Fortunatus is led
towards the gallows.
9 The
murdered nobleman's wife and her kinsman present the jewels, which she has
discovered by chance, on bended knees to the King of
England.
10 Fortunatus,
hiding up a tree, is scented and pursued by a bear.
11 Fortunatus,
wearing a large codpiece, is given the Purse of Plenty by a pregnant
Lady
Fortune.
12 A
woodcut in which Fortunatus appears twice.
He outbids the Count of the Wood
for three horses; and is arrested by the Count's servant.
13 Fortunatus
joins the high table in the inn in
14 He
discusses terms with Lupoldus.
15 The
two adventurers are lost in St. Patrick's Purgatory.
16 They
embark for
17 Fortunatus
dips his hand into his Purse, ready to endow the daughter of a poor
cabinet-maker.
18 Lupoldus
stands with raised sword over the dead, thievish host, whom he has just
slain.
19 Lupoldus
disposes of the body in a well at midnight.
20 Fortunatus,
back in
21 Standing
by the King's side, with Lupoldus at his shoulder, Fortunatus chooses a
wife.
22 Fortunatus
and Cassandra are married.
23 See
3.
24 The
birth of a son to Cassandra and Fortunatus.
25 Fortunatus
departs on his second major journey, to the East.
26 Riding
a camel in
27 Fortunatus
rewards the Sultan of Babylon's mamelukes.
28 Fortunatus
steals the Wishing-Hat from the Sultan, flying out through the window towards
his ship while his dispossessed host helplessly flings his arms in the air.
29 The
Venetian envoy Marcholandus attempts, in vain, to negotiate the return of the
Wishing-Hat. The
two men are shown sitting on stools, talking, and speaking
with their hands
30 On
his deathbed, Fortunatus enjoins his two sons not to split the Purse and the
Hat; they turn their heads to
observe the two treasures.
31 Andolosia,
who often looks remarkably like his father, rides out on his travels with
great ostentation.
32 Andolosia
woos a French noblewoman in
33 Andolosia
is greeted by the King of England.
34 He
meets Agrippina, the Princess of England.
35 Having
been tricked out of the Purse of Plenty, Andolosia dismisses his shocked
servants.
36 He
uses the Wishing-Hat to return to
city.
37 Andolosia
uses the Wishing-Hat to abduct Agrippina.
38 Having
lost both Purse and Hat, and eaten magic, corniferous apples, Andolosia
asks a hermit for help.
39 Andolosia,
disguised as a doctor, treats Agrippina, who he has tricked into eating a
corniferous apple.
40 He
finds the Wishing-Hat under Agrippina's bed and abducts her a second time.
41 See
37.
42 After
refusing to remove Agrippina's horns, Andolosia leaves her in a convent near
Saint Patrick's Purgatory. He pays the Abbess her fees while
Agrippina sits sadly
by.
43 A
Cypriot Embassy arrives in
Prince and Agrippina.
44 The
marriage of the Prince of Cyprus and Princess Agrippina.
45 See
3.
46 Riding
home after the wedding festivities, Andolosia is ambushed by two villainous
earls, and his men are killed.
47 Count
Theodorus speaks with Andolosia, who is wasting away in the stocks, prior to
murdering him.
48 The
two villainous earls are broken on the wheel.
49 See
1.
FORTUNATUS:
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