John A. Rush, The Ghent Altarpiece. Is that a mushroom at the base of the fountain?

 
Here is Plate 3:63c from John A. Rush, The Mushroom in Christian Art (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2011).  


John A. Rush presents an extremely poor-quality blow-up of the bottom of the fountain (lower right) from the Ghent Altarpiece, urging his readers to "Notice the mushroom at the base of the fountain."  This echoes the text of the book itself where he says the same thing and credits Jan Irvin for the information (p. 250).  As is so often the case, it is impossible for the viewer to tell whether what Rush says is true from the photo he provides. It is wholly worthless for verification of what Rush is claiming. Here is a better picture revealing that it is not a mushroom, as Rush claims, but a water-spouting mascaron.





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