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Yet another source that Gunnar Larsson points out are stories about
cat-organs from the 1500s and 1600s, one of which tells about how
such an instrument could be used to counter melancholy, to cheer up
depressed people.
Gunnar Larsson identifies the beginning of the music, to me it is not
very clear, it is the same as the one on top of the pig, and it may be
described as a song against melancholy with the text “hohe Freude”.
What function did such music have in Duke Karl’s bedroom? It may
have worked as a talisman protecting bad things happening. And maybe
Duke Karl needed that because some in his family suffered from
depression, namely his half brothers Erik and Magnus. 13 Moreover, if
your mind was uneasy, music would of course comfort you. So there
were really good reasons to have such a motif in a bedroom.
These are interesting and valuable hypotheses that bring in new
aspects, but I do not find that there are enough real proofs. However,
this picture serves as a good example on how one needs to take into
consideration that another picture may have served as a model. This
is always something one must observe carefully when evaluating a
picture as a source. It may mean that the painting perhaps illustrates
not what one was hoping for but rather mirror something in another
country where the original picture was created or published.
We have yet another picture with special musicians and it also touches
upon the problem with models. This is a painting from the church
Häverö, north of Stockholm. The paintings date back to about 1500
and have been attributed to the Knutby Group. A common factor
about the paintings of this church is that they are based on the Biblia
Pauperum. 14
The term Biblia Pauperum means Bible of the poor, and poor refers
here not to the ones without money or food but rather to the ones
in need of a “spiritual refill”. This Bible illustrates scenes from the
life of Christ. Each scene is shown together with the parallel event
from the Old Testament which is considered to foretell the event
in the New Testament. This is a so called typological use of the
Old Testament.
13 Gunnar Larsson refers here to a study by Victor Wigert: Erik XIV,
historisk-psykiatrisk studie, Stockholm 1920, p. 191 “Contra omnia
quae recreant affectus anima amet musicam laetas consolationes et
colloquia suavia.”
14 See Ingebjørg Barth Magnus, & Birgit Kjellström, Musikmotiv i svensk
kyrkokonst: Uppland fram till 1625/Musical motifs in Swedish church
art: The region of Uppland up to 1625. Stockholm, 1993, p. 35,
187-194.With parallel text in English. A more general description of
the church is given in Karl Asplund and Martin Olsson: “Häverö kyrka”.
In the series Sveriges kyrkor, vol 8, p. 1- 68. With a summary in German.
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