Insanity - Malle Babbe (1640)

Frans Hals
1582/83, Antwerp, Belgium - September 1, 1666, Haarlem, Netherlands

Frans Hals was born in Antwerp to Flemish parents who fled to the Netherlands after the city fell to the Spanish in 1585. His parents settled in Haarlem in 1591 and remained there for the rest of their lives.
Frans married twice, had at least ten children, and was constantly in financial trouble. During the last years of his life, he was completely penniless, but the municipal authorities of Haarlem granted him a small annual stipend four years before his death.
He is considered one of the most brilliant portrait painters.

♦ Malle Babbe (1640) ♦

A greasy-looking woman with an owl on her shoulder and a tin can. The woman has been identified as Malle Babbe from the Haarlem leprosarium.

♦ Diagnosis
Main symptoms: Uncontrollable greasy smile, confined to leper colony.
Secondary symptoms: Owl on shoulder, pewter beer or wine jug.
Clinical diagnosis: Insanity.

♦ Definition: insanity
General term for mental disorder or confusion. In official medicine, insanity refers to a serious mental disorder that renders the patient either incapable of managing their own affairs and fulfilling their social obligations, or a danger to themselves or others.

♦ Discussion
The meaning of the owl on Malle Babbe's shoulder can be interpreted in various ways.
For the Greeks, the owl was a symbol of wisdom because it could see in the dark. In Dutch, we have several sayings such as
‘as dumb as an owl (chick)’ or ‘The nightingale must give way to the owl’, and in English there is also the saying ‘As drunk as an owl’.
Malle Babbe was also known at the time as ‘the witch of Haarlem’.
In any case, she did not suffer from leprosy, even though she was admitted to the leprosarium. At that time, leprosy was virtually non-existent in the Netherlands, but the house was used to accommodate people who could no longer take care of themselves.

Source: Jan Dequeker

Jan Dequeker
The artist and the doctor look at paintings
Photos
Wikipedia.org