Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych – Detail

De hertepoot, dien de man bij zich gestoken heeft, moet dienen als voorbehoedmiddeltegen ziekten. Men verkeerde in den waan, dat van het hert vernieuwende en levenwekkende krachten uitgingen [van Andel, 1928, 118ff.]; vandaar de spreekwijze: zoo gezond als een hert [Harrebomée, 1858, 307]. (pp. 78-79)

At the very center of the tondo the eye is caught by a pig’s trotter hanging from the man’s coat. The clover hoof occurs frequently in Bosch as a symbol of base urge and lusts. Up to now the man has kept it hidden in his bosom, but now, in this decisive hour of his life, what he has had a heart comes to light. To make the meaning of the crux of his meditational picture as clear as possible, Bosch has indicated the exact moment in time when the spiritual event occurs. From the front opening of the man’s coat, in a strongly accented vertical, hanged a white string. The pig’s foot was tied to this string. But as the repentant Prodigal hunches forward to jerk himself free once and for all from his corrupt ways, the tie to the “swine within” breaks and he drops the emblem of evil pursuits – which jauntily continue in the open doorway across the road, where the soldier and pot girl meet… The pig’s trotter is the devil’s cloven hoof, lurking behind the story Bosch tells. (pp. 260-265)

The hoof appears to be associated with gluttony and lust – sins that were known to prosper in public houses. Within Bosch’s own oeuvre, hooves are shown in contexts that seem to establish this association. A hoof is portrayed on a banner flying above a tent that serves as a tavern and brothel in the fragment of a painting at Yale, Allegory of Gluttony and Lust [Bosch, ca. 1495–1500; de Tolnay, 1966, 94]. Another hoof is shown clutched in the greedy hand of the jug-holding glutton in the Seven Deadly Sins tabletop [Bosch, ca. 1505-1510; de Tolnay, 1966, 66]. The Rotterdam poor man’s hoof would thus suggest that he is guilty of similar carnal indulgences. (pp. 94-95)