The Gorleston Psalter dates from c. 1310. British Library

Uma das mudanças mais marcantes ao nível do exercício do poder na Europa aponta para o eclipse da figura do político carismático. Desvanece-se, assim, a confiança empática, sem cálculo, por parte dos cidadãos. A adesão tende a ser negociada ou sofrida. Que saudade de um bom discurso político! Os políticos, agora, quase não discursam; prestam declarações. Esta evolução recorda-me, perversamente, certas figuras do passado, assaz populares na Idade Média. Figuras codificadas, prenhes de sentido. As três figuras contempladas neste artigo operam um movimento de rebaixamento associado a uma purgação ou catarse. A iluminura provém do Gorleston Psalter, datado de cerca de 1310 (British Library). Com o “Penico John Bull” (1897), Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro também não resiste à tentação escatológica. A escultura, eventualmente do século XVIII, encontra-se no Musée de Flandre, que faculta a seguinte interpretação:

Musée de Flandre. Talvez séc. XVIII.

“This man in the middle of defecating is part of an ancient and common iconography in Flemish art. In several of the works by Hieronymus Bosch (?- 1516), Pieter Bruegel (1525/1530 – 1569) and Pieter Balten (1520/1525 – before 1598), women or men are captured in this position, relieving themselves. There is nothing shocking about this: reality was reproduced as it was. In 1559, Bruegel, in Flemish Proverbs, depicted two figures, with only their bare buttocks visible, caught in their latrine by surprise. Below them, a nobleman throws coins into the water. Childplay, dated 1560, shows a square chamber pot in the foreground and, a little further away to the right, a little girl stirs the excrement with a stick for fun. This scatological dimension is portrayed in an entirely natural way as part of everyday life.
“These sketches may come across as misplaced, slightly coarse and rude humour. But there is a meaning and symbolism of words behind the pictures. Indeed, this theme conceals something very subtle. In Flemish culture, the expression: “Uit schijten” (to leave droppings) also means “to mock”. This brings us to the moral of the picture: the pooper is not only a means of making fun of human nature, but also puts Man back into his rightful place: we are all equal during our time on Earth.” (Musée de Flandre http://museedeflandre.lenord.fr/en/Collections/HetSchiijtmanneke.aspx).

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro. Penico John Bull. 1897.