Detail from the foreground of a view of the city of seville published in the third volume of georg braun's civitatis orbis terrarum (1597). Thisr part of the painting shows a strange scene, itemised in the key as s: execution de justicia de los cornudos patientes and t: execution de l'acazuettas publicas. The "patient cuckold", a man with bound hands, wearing horns made from leafy branches (or antlers wrapped with greenery?) hung with bells and flags, and his adulterous wife (half-dressed and surrounded by a swarm of bees) are riding asses, presumably as a punishment for their shameful behaviour. Or is his wife the woman on the third ass, who appears to be beating him, and is in turn being beaten with a strap or belt by the man with a trumpet? five onlookers are making the cabrón, the obscene sign of the horns. A similar custom in england was sometimes known as a skimmington ride or skimmity. Date: 1565, published 1597.
Loading...