ART AND IMAGES IN PSYCHIATRY SECTION EDITOR: JAMES C. HARRIS, MD Jester With a Lute The first of April some do say/Is set apart for All Fools’ Day/...onthis day are people sent/on purpose of pure merriment. Poor Robin’s Almanack, 1760 Tom Killigrew hath a fee out of the wardrobe [Fund] for cap and bells, under the title of the King’s foole or Jester, and may with privilege revile or jeere anybody, the greatest person, without offence, by the privilege of his place. Samuel Pepys’ diary, February 13, 1668 OR APRIL, A MONTH WHEN WE tatives of religion—anyone held sacro- who became a historical symbol for his celebrate mischief-making, sanct.4 The traditional jester, typically an country. Employed by 3 Polish kings, he we turn to Frans Hals (1580- entertainer of the royal court, went into was a political philosopher gifted with 1666). Hals’ Jester With a decline as democracies and republics were insight and used satire to highlight Po- FLute, completed in 1624-1625, depicts a established and theatrical groups were land’s political situation. In Jan Matej- jester with a merry and mischievous grin formed. Hals’ jester retains the merri- ko’s (1838-1893) painting6 (Figure), the playing a melody (cover). The viewer’s ment and fun of an entertainer but is not dejected Stan´ czyk is the only person at eyes are drawn up toward the larger-than- part of a royal court as was the case in a 1514 royal ball at Queen Bona’s court life-sized musician, whose body, slightly contemporary Spain.5 In royal settings, who is troubled by the news that the Rus- turned, elicits a sense of animated move- jesters were seen as one of two types: sians have captured Smolensk. Stan´- ment. The contrast of the earthy neutral czyk, wearing the traditional tri-pointed background and his colorful dress make floppy hat with bells and brightly col- him vibrant. His fingers are precisely po- ored clothing, slumps in his chair, sitioned on the lute’s strings; his face ex- for he foresees, while the royal family presses smug satisfaction. Is his smile a parties on, that Russia will dominate response to his attentive audience or an Poland, as it does soon afterward. inner reflection on a clever jest he is about Yet despite misfortune and daily to impart? Thus, Hals evokes the view- woes, the tradition of the jester carries er’s curiosity as he frames the jester’s joy- on in community life. All Fools’ Day jests ful presence.1 date back to ancient Indian festivals and Hals was a resident of Haarlem, the Roman mythology, especially to “fool’s most powerful city in the 7 provinces of errands,” or wild goose chases. Popu- lar practical jokes are carried out in all the Dutch Republic. Throughout Hals’ Figure. The Court Jester Stan´czyk Receives cultures as winter turns to spring and life, he celebrated the burgeoning re- News of the Loss of Smolensk. levity is renewed. April Fools’ day gives public with his paintings of its citizens license to pranksters throughout the captured in a moment in time. His por- natural or artificial fools. The former 5 world. In modern times, television, Web traits of community leaders are genu- could include dwarfs and those physi- sites, and magazines find new and imagi- ine and reflect their social status but lack cally or intellectually disabled who were deemed odd. They were cared for by their native ways to trick the gullible—and the warm expressiveness of musicians play the April Fool.7 like the jester, fishwives, and tavern masters as entertainers and companions to royal children. The artificial fool, in dwellers. Haarlem’s leading portraitist, James C. Harris, MD Hals rivaled Rembrandt during his life- contrast, demonstrated verbal wit and time, but following his death, his art was clever intellectual repartee and often was eclipsed for the next 2 centuries until politically astute. REFERENCES rediscovered in the 19th century by mod- Court jesters were a regular part of En- ern artists. Now Hals continues to cap- glish society and were given license to cri- 1. Slive S, ed. Frans Hals. London, UK: Royal Acad- ture the modern imagination.2 tique royalty but punished if they went emy of Arts, 1989. Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) de- too far. Some of the best known jesters 2. Kernan M. The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals. New York, scribed Hals best, mentioning him in in literature appear in Shakespeare’s plays. NY: St Martin’s Press; 1994. Among Shakespeare’s “wise fools,” are 3. van Gogh’s letters: unabridged and annotated. 19 of his letters to his brother Theo and http://www.webexhibits.org/query-gogh.spy 3 artist friends. Vincent wrote that Hals’ Touchstone in As You Like It, Feste in ?tem=vangogh&col=vangogh&nh=12&qt=Frans portraits of good citizens with their Twelfth Night, and King Lear’s unnamed +Hals&search=Search. Accessed February 10, 2011. families showed humanity in all its truth- Fool. The Fool ignores ideology; rejects 4. Otto BK. Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester fulness—“portraits of a whole self- appearances of law or justice; and recog- Around the World. Chicago, IL: University of Chi- assured and lively and immortal repub- nizes brute force, cruelty, and lust. With- cago Press; 2001. lic—serene not fearful.” out illusions, he does not seek consola- 5. Harris JC. Portrait of Francisco Lezcano–The “Niño Court jesters throughout the world, tion; he knows that the only true madness de Vallecas.” Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2011;68(3): 229. in Europe, the Middle East, China, and is to assume this world to be rational. 6. Cole TB. The court jester Stan´czyk (1480-1560). India, targeted their humor at officious The knowledge of the wise jester JAMA. 2009;302(15):1627. and venal nobles; erring, corrupt, or lazy weighed heavily on Stan´ czyk (1480- 7. Kennedy D. All Fools’ Day. Science. 2005;308(5718): rulers; self-important scholars; represen- 1560), Poland’s most famous court jester, 17. (REPRINTED) ARCH GEN PSYCHIATRY/ VOL 68 (NO. 4), APR 2011 WWW.ARCHGENPSYCHIATRY.COM 338 ©2011 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 10/02/2021.