Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych – Detail

The gate stands for the narrow opening through one may gain entry to the heavenly paradise. Here we once again encounter one of the fundamentals constants in Bosch’s oeuvre: the idea that life is a prilgrimage towards God. (p. 191)

… the right shutter represents old age and the question of what our status will be in the hereafter. (p. 192)

In the Pedlar the path thus leads from the yard in front of the brothel to the narrow gate, beyond which are waiting an ox (a sacrificial beast and a symbol of Christ) [de Bruyn, 2001, 355-363]. The pictorial motif of the pedlar is found again, in a slightly different for, in the Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515]. (p. 255)

We probably justified un seeing in the gate and fields a reference to Christ who, in John 10:9, speaks of himself as the door through which those who enter ‘shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture’ [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, John, 10:9]. (p. 106)

We probably justified un seeing in the gate and fields a reference to Christ who, in John 10:9, speaks of himself as the door through which those who enter ‘shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture’ [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, John, 10:9]. (p. 63)

His end will be the gallows, to be seen beyond the gate he is about to pass [Philip, 1958]. (p. 112)

The Hearers in both of Bosch’s paintings are grey haired men, whose journey through physical life is nearing its end. The wayfarer in the Rotterdam panel walks towards the gate with its uncaged magpie, while the peddler in the Haywain [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515] approaches a bridge. Both of these images symbolize the transition to the afterworld, and the possibility of life and freedom which it can bring. (p. 164)

… the gallows on the hill behind the gate… warns us that the pilgrim will suffer spiritual death if his desires lead to his rebirth in the physical world. In the Haywain panels [Bosch, ca. 1512-1515], the same danger is suggested by the crack, implying the possibility of breakage, on the stone bridge which the wayfarer is about to cross. Even the stone gateposts in the painting at Rotterdam repeat the message. Close examination reveals that one of these is cracked and crumbling, while the other is firm and unblemished. (p. 165)

…the right half of the painting presents an open, peaceful landscape. A sturdily made lattice gate, shaded by a tree, leads to the green pastures of the Twenty-third Psalm [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Psalm, 23:2] (p. 258)

The circle of the absolute One, who “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Matthew, 5:45] encloses the coincidentia oppositorum and breaks it by pointing to the right road leading out of the dissolute playground of the “world” through the narrow gate, into “life” (p. 258)

…we see the lattice gate leading from the illusory world to the world of truthtoward the Prodigal’s father. Unlike the sagging, ramshacklet tavern, the gate is sturdily built, with straight, clean lines. Its handle, an equilateral triangle, is tied by a diagonal bar to its base, an almost square rectangle divided into six regular panels. The figure is so forceful that its symbolism is unmistakable, especially since it Involves the sacred numbers: the trinitarian three and the “perfect” six. This is a Biblical symbol: The gate’s strong uprights are an allusion to Proverbs 8:32, 34 [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Proverbs, 8:32, 34]. (p. 265)

Seen as a hieratic figure, the Trinity symbol of the equilateral triangle dominates the layout of the six-day work of Creation [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Genesis, 1:24–31], penetrating it from top to bottom. The sturdy diagional drives into the sixth panel – the creation of man, who is represented by the piebald magpie standing for the Son of Adam facing the choice between black and white, Hell and Heaven. (p. 265)

The spiritual analogy with the Prodigal Son [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Luke, 15:11-32] is obvious: Here a son has been lost to God (just as Adam was) because in the idleness of his dissolute life he totally forgot that the six days of Creation should be the model for man’s creative daily work. Instead, he lived his lives according to the “six things the Lord doth hate,” which are likewise enumerated in Proverbs [English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Proverbs, 6:9-19]. (p. 265)

…the number six is the hinge on which the lattice gate swings toward the good, to open on the way of redemption and the certainty of salvation on the other side. In his Gemma Animae Honorius Augustodunensis synchronized the six days of Creation with the work of redemption [Augustodunensis, ca. 1080-1156] (p. 265)

The entire right side of the composition of the Peddler represents the future punishment of the wicked man… [Philip, 1958, 75:note 160; Bosch, ca. 1475; Bruegel, 1574; Bruegel, 1568; Vinken, 1958, 3f.]. (p. 75)

A gate, with yet another magpie on it, blocks the path in front of the man [Tuttle, 1981, 93: note 46; Zupnick, 1968, 131-132]. (p. 93)

The poor man in the Rotterdam tondo is about to pass through a gate… bridge. The gate and the bridge may symbolically represent the transition between this world and the next and thus emphasize the moralizing aspect of these paintings. Zupnick discusses the allegorical meaning of the gate [Zupnick, 1968, 131-132] (p. 93:note 46)

…it is possible to see the gate as a marker of transition, even of transformative change, but visible beyond it are gallows, a form of earthly punishment for sins. (p. 259)

…the pathway itself is bifurcated between tavern and dunes, allegorically suggesting the larger choices of humanity between good and evil [Chew, 1962; Harms, 1970]. (p. 259)