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Iconology of the Wayfarer Triptych

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65 interpretations found.

#336
Man on his deathbed with a chest from Death and the Miser

Bosch also did not ignore the worldly side of the temptation to commit deadly sins. For avarice, he depicted The Death of a Miser on a panel that was surely the shutter of a triptych configuration, viewed obliquely leftwards in terms of its perspective [Marijnissen, 2007, 320-324]. The dying man lies in his bed amidst a cluttered room of stored legal papers with seals, knightly armour and bags of money in locked chests, Demons hover around all of these worldly trophies, and a second standing old figure, despite a rosary at his waist, holds a coin in his hand above a moneybag. One other demon at this last moment still offers the dying old man a moneybag, to which he reaches even now. At the same time, he stares obsessively at the shrouded, skeletal figure of Death in the open doorway, who bears a mortal arrow aimed at him. Consequently both of these conflicting preoccupations preclude the old man from seeing what viewers can – namely, a guardian angel behind him, who attempts to redirect his vision upwards to the window above that doorway, where divine light enters the room across a hanging crucifix. Even at the very last moment, demons and worldly temptations can distract errant humanity into deadly sin, here avarice. Scholars have rightly invoked the fifteenth-century text Ars moriendi (How to die) [Ars moriendi, ca. 1415-1450], where a Christian on his deathbed is tempted to sin by demons but is ultimately consoled and saved by Christ and his angelic forces [Tentler, 2005; Olds, 1966; Ariès, 1981, 107-110]. (p. 129)

Silver, 2017
Crimes and Punishments. Bosch’s Hell

#580
Ragged poor man from The Pedlar

The spinder in the hat held out by the Hearer in the panel at Rotterdam is a traditional symbol of the weaving of the thread of physical life. Only one small strand remains on it, and as Wertheim says, this is probably a sign that the peddler has very little left on earth. Alternatively, in the interpretation of Stein Schneider, the spindle itself is an image of continuing death and rebirth, which implies reincarnation [Wertheim Aymès, 1957, 39; Stein-Schneider, 1984, 59f.; Cooper, 1982, 170]. Perhaps Boseh is expressing both ideas. In any case, the gallows on the hill behind the gate and spindle warns us that the pilgrim will suffer spiritual death if his desires lead to his rebirth in the physical world. the gallows on the hill behind the gate and spindle warns us that the pilgrim will suffer spiritual death if his desires lead to his rebirth in the physical world. In any case, the gallows on the hill behind the gate and spindle 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. This contrast symbolizes the peddler’s choice between salvation in the world of light, and rebirth into hell (the Cathar name for the earth). (p. 165)

Harris, 1995
The secret heresy of Hieronymus Bosch

#712
Bird on wooden gate or fence from The Pedlar

The gate shows one particular feature which is striking and unusal. It stands by itself without being connected to a fence. From a practical point of view it does not have the function of a gate at all. That Bosch represented the gate as being set up in the landscape as a single to have something to do with the symbolic meaning of object standing free in its surroundings it probably symbolizes something which stands by itself in the landscape. In order to find could be, we should look at the design of the gate in which we look at the particular type of puzzle-picture called Vexier-Bild. Then we see that the wooden parts of it form a perfect image of are, in fact, several little gallows hidden in the design of the gate. and one can see a picture of this ominous object almost any way one looks at it [Philip, 1958, 72:note 153]. The magpie sitting on the gate confirms this interpretation. One is reminded of Bruegel’s painting called The Magpie on the Gallows , which idea originally invented by Bosch [Philip, 1958, 72:note 154; Grossmann, 1955, fig.91, 153-154; Bruegel, 1565; Visscher, 1614; Brummel, 1949, 67]… The gate in the Peddler is indubitably meant to be the Gate of Death [Visscher, 1614], the gallows in disguise. In this painting the place of execution is not only represented as a small ground. The gallows appears as a large image in the foreground, idea of the end on the gallows is particularly stressed in part of the main action and is not shown as only a final distant future. (p. 72)

Philip, 1958
The Peddler by Hieronymus Bosch, a study in detectio

#743
Man on his deathbed with a chest from Death and the Miser

An infrared photograph of the painting shows a change in the area of the left hand [Eisler, 1977, 66; “Detail, infrared reflectogram image of Death and the Miser”, 1982]. In the underdrawing, the hand was extended further and held a covered goblet, as if offering it to Death [Morganstern, 1982, 40:note 30; Frankfurter, 1952, 114; Friedländer, 1969, 33; Master of the Virgin among Virgins, ca. 1490; van Oostsanen, 1517; Kohlhaussen, 1968, pp. 348f., no. 386]. The gesture toward the money bag accompanied this present and was thus also probably originally intended as an offering to Death. By painting out the goblet and shortening Death’s arrow, Bosch increased the tension between the miser and the figure of Death. Death. But did he intend to change the meaning? I think not. The gesture toward the money bag remains a gesture of offering. Our miser may be like the dying man cited by Tervarent, who showed Death his treasures, requesting that he take them with him [de Tervarent, 1945, 44f.].Or he may be offering Death a ransom. In either case, he seems preoccupied with the approach of Death on the one hand and with his gold on the other. There is no indication that he has thought of making restitution to the debtors whose pawns litter courtyard, and he seems totally unaware of the beam of light streaming through the window. No wonder the angel’s gesture is so urgent. He can only plead for mercy for this helpless sinner, who even at the moment of death seems unable to extricate himself from his possessions. (p. 37)

Morganstern, 1982
The Pawns in Bosch’s” Death and the Miser”