About the the Wayfarer Triptych
Accepted as being four separate paintings until the 1960s, and by 2001, it became clear that the Ship of Fools, Allegory of Intemperance, Death and the Miser and The Wayfarer, were part of a dissembled triptych [1]. Art historians suggested that the paintings, which now in the holdings of museums in the United States and Europe, belong together through varied perspectives. The paintings as triptych seem to illustrate the lifelong journey of Everyman and making choices throughout life between good and evil. Scholars have suggested the placement of the paintings in the triptych for varied stylistic and morphological reasons [2]. Technical studies, conducted by the Bosch Research and Conversation Project (BRCP) team, concluded that the works were painted on wood from the same tree [3]. Analysis of the wood structure demonstrated that the Ship of Fools with the Allegory of Intemperance below once formed a triptych’s left panel. The Death of the Miser was the right panel, while The Wayfarer was the exterior. The central panel is assumed lost [4].
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