Tot Zover

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Text: Laura Cramwinckel

Bats appeal to the imagination. These nocturnal insect eaters are steeped in historical mysticism, phobias and fairytales - which detracts from their ecological importance. Because they are the only mammals in the world that can fly, they have mythical status in many cultures. It is an animal that is viewed both positively and negatively.

Master of the night

The bat is part of the inlaid floor mosaic in the front hall of the Rijksmuseum, an original design by architect Pierre Cuypers from 1885. They are all winged animals that symbolize the different parts of the day: The rooster (morning), a beehive (day) , the owl (evening) and the bat for the night. Do you see how the bat is the only animal depicted in it's masterful flight?

Bats are among the mysterious flying creatures of the night. They fly out around dusk to catch insects, an average of 300 a night. Bats used to be thought to be the spirits of the dead, and with their silent, swirling flight they were identified with evil. Because the devil has such wings too…

Large in number

In Escher's work Circle Limit IV (1960), bats have been carefully constructed according to his recognisable technique. From the centre, the bats multiply outward and systematically shrink until they are infinitely small. "Outside the circle," says the artist, "it is nothing."

Typical for bats: you rarely find them alone. They are social animals and usually live in large colonies. Those large numbers are also frightening.

The interesting thing about this woodcut is the alternation of black bats, or devils, with white angels. A beautiful combination of light and dark figures, completely different in shape, but they complement each other completely. Clearly the game of two oposing poles - the Chinese follow the eternal game of Yin and Yang, good versus evil in Christian terms.

Devilish bat

In Christian iconography, the devil usually comes in the form of a bat or goat. See this 1485 depiction of hell, a burning crater in the depths of the earth, by Hans Memling. The fallen angel is decked out with bat wings, "shy of the light" and with sharp canines and horns he torments the sinners in the flames.

The bat has been associated with the underworld and other places of evil and darkness for a long time. Millions of bats have inhabited our towers, tunnels, dark attics and caves for centuries. Due to their unusual bodies and winged legs, bats cannot dig in the ground, so they rely on tree hollows and buildings. With their flexible skeleton, they can crawl through very narrow gaps (up to 1 cm).

Fluttering around the hour of death

Another beautiful picture with a medieval depiction of the hour of death: the journey to the afterlife was one of heaven, hell and purgatory. Individual judgment took the form of a dispute - an armed confrontation between angel and devil. Just look: while the man lies on his deathbed, angel and devil compete to weigh the soul of the dead by his good and bad deeds.

Magic

In the next historical period, the bat takes on a role in the folk culture of magic and vampires. In Shakespeare's Macbeth (1606), bats play only a minor part. Yet they are depicted pontifically on this vintage Penguin book cover. Why? At the start of the fourth act "cauldron", the three witches brew their famous hell-brew and bats are an indispensable ingredient:

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog (-)

So the witches used "bat wool" - indeed many bats have super soft fur. But the favorite ingredient for aspiring wizards was bat blood, that blood was the main ingredient of witch ointment that prevented the witch from bumping into her broomstick in the dark. Such an ointment was a wildly popular drug between the 15th and 18th centuries, but the chances of anyone actually getting it off the ground - let alone a bat sweeping through the night - are slim. More likely, the women felt that they were flying because of one of the other ingredients in the concoction, hallucinatory belladonna.

Grave Symbols

We jump to grave symbolism and the figuration of the bat, such as the spectacular grave monument from 1669 in a church in Midwolde (Groningen), made by the famous sculptor Rombout Verhulst. Verhulst also made the grave of Michiel de Ruyter in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. The freestanding tomb with sculpture was commissioned by Anna van Ewsum, who lived in Nienoord, it depicts herself and her late husband. We are interested in two parts of the lying figure: the winged hourglass and the bottom of the laurel wreath.

Anna is half-lying, preparing for death, with her husband already lying peacefully before her on a woven death mat. She leans her left elbow on the Bible - a testament to God 's confidence - and her hand rests on the winged hourglass as a funerary symbol of the fleeting time. Her head is adorned with a cap and widow's veil.

Winged hourglass

The special thing about the hourglass are the two different wings, that of a pigeon (the day) and the bat (the night). The meaning of the wings is that life evaporates by day and by night, by good and evil. Fun fact: When the Museum Tot Zover was founded, the historical coat of arms of the Sneker skippers' guild inspired the museum's logo at the time!

Skull with wings

Back at the grave monument in Midwolde: Bat wings also adorn the bottom of the laurel wreath, as part of a winged skull. The skull's mouth is opened towards the oil lamp below. He is blowing out the flame of the lamp of life.

The winged skull is no stranger to funerary art, as it appears sporadically on gravestones. Art historians are unsure about the origins of this winged skull. On tombstones, the skull is usually depicted with feathered wings (cherubs perhaps?). This traditional medieval symbol refers to both the inevitable and the re-creating element of death: the soul that flies to heaven. However, bat wings have a fleece, not feathers. That connotation would undoubtedly be more grim.

The skull is sometimes given two different wings, such as in the abbey church in Grimbergen, Belgium. In this combination, the wings presumably have a similar meaning to the two different wings of the hourglass: good and evil.

Occult Paris

A little further south in Paris we make a great discovery at Père-Lachaise cemetery (1801). Although now arriving in the 19th century - a time when the cemeteries were bathed in gentle spheres of Victorian iconography with a focus on eternal life, beautiful crying angels, broken columns, inverted torches and evergreen ivy - between all this 14 unique and dark bat images are hidden. This is probably related to international occultism, which was rampant in Paris at the end of the 19th century. Many of the main players of this movement find their final resting place on Père-Lachaise.

Norwich

The 18th-century wall monument in a church near Norwich, England shows a Corinthian column against a dark obelisk with a coat of arms on top, trimmed with lovely angel heads. The memorial plaque is for a father and son, who died within the year when the family tree ends. That can be read from the inscription and symbolism of the single pillar - but what we are looking at is the skull at the bottom.

The Dead Eaten #1

This is very unique symbolism - that of a skull with a bat wing in it's mouth. Yes, death is sometimes hungry and bat is apparently a tasty snack. What is meant here is a mystery - some see it as a symbol of rebirth after death. The end of the family tree could also be an explanation. Or is it perhaps a preview of that other English urban legend?

The Dead Eaten #2

Because 250 years later, in 1982, Ozzy Osborne made himself immortal by biting the head off a bat on stage. Pathetic, but the lead singer of Black Sabbath lived up to his nickname 'Prince of Darkness'.

Another English proverb says: 'Revenge is best served cold'. A few years ago Ozzy wanted to renovate his English mansion. He came across a colony of pygmy bats in the attic. The renovation was delayed for years and cost tens of thousands of pounds as Ozzy had to safely replace the animals.

Bat = Batman

To end on a positive note, we are amazed by the bat as a superhero character. Since his introduction as Batman in 1939, the bat has been back on the good side of the moral spectrum once again. Although he has no superpowers, he is master of self-defense and an amazing detective. He uses highly advanced technology, is intelligent, agile and does a lot of good for people. All properties that also adorn the organic animal.

So we pay tribute to the unsung bat, it deserves our love and appreciation. You better not eat it.