Bosch, Hieronymus_The Haywain triptych

Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516)
(Boijmans van Beuningen)

Hieronymus Bosch is known for his crowded paintings, which are, as it were, a cacophony of scenes on a single canvas.

♦ Description of the Haywain
♦♦ center panel
- at the top, Christ is seen on a cloud, with his arms spread out, looking out over the people.
- In the center is the hay cart itself, with a bush on top of it, in front of which sits a man playing the lute with a couple singing along. In the bush, a couple is kissing.
- To their left is an angel praying to Christ.
- To their right is a little devil who appears to be playing the flute.

♦ Hay cart
- Behind the hay cart on the left, a procession of dignitaries including a king and a bishop or pope.
- Below and in front of the hay cart, people who have fallen while trying to climb onto it, as well as a man stabbing someone in the throat with a knife.
- On the right, the hay cart is being pulled by demonic figures, behind which a group of people are fleeing into a cave.
- In the background is a vast landscape with a river and a small castle on a mountain.
- In the foreground is a group of people who are barely paying attention to the scene, including a group of nuns and a priest on the right, a tooth puller, and a family sitting around a campfire.

♦ Iconic description
Bosch repeatedly addresses the same themes in his paintings, namely those of the seven deadly sins.
Since it would be impossible to describe everything, I will discuss the haywain, the procession in front of the haywain, and the people in the foreground. In Bosch's time, the haywain was more than just dried grass; it symbolized earthly gain.

♦♦ Text 1563:
“A cart with a satyr sitting on it, deceitfully beckoning, followed by the entire nation of people, pulling on the cart, such as usurers, cashiers, and creemers, with the iron winch already on the cart.”

In addition to this text, the group of people in the foreground of the painting provides ample evidence that hay can be seen as material property.
The tooth puller has a money bag filled with hay, and the nuns accompanying the well-fed priest are filling a sack with it. The small family is a group of gypsies, recognizable by their typical headgear, who were viewed with great suspicion around 1500.


“15th-century chronicles” report that they occupied themselves with begging, poaching, stealing, pickpocketing, palm reading, fortune telling, and even kidnapping and selling children. The foreground therefore clearly symbolizes greed.

The text from 1563 refers to usurers, merchants, and bankers, but Bosch broadens the scope by depicting secular and ecclesiastical rulers as pursuing “ertsch ghewin” (first profit). Bosch accuses them of being overly attached to profit-seeking and other earthly vanities.
The deeper meaning of the scene on top of the hay cart can be interpreted as the sin of unchastity, especially as indicated by the kissing couple. The lute player and the singing couple. ♦ Left panel: heaven ♦ Right panel: hell

The side panels depict Bosch's vision of paradise and hell, respectively.
Read from left to right, sinful man unsuspectingly turns away from paradise, toward hell and damnation, distracted by sins such as gluttony, greed, and lust.

“No one is concerned about the fatal outcome.”

Bosch's work cannot be viewed separately from the social and political unrest of the late Middle Ages and the belief that the end of the world was near. This was further reinforced by the terrible plague epidemics.
The upper social class, to which Bosch belonged, wanted to prevent the demoralized people from succumbing to a desperate attitude towards life.

Bosch was highly regarded during his lifetime.
King Philip II of Spain collected his work (now in the Prado in Madrid).
There are also many copies. Some were made in his studio in 's-Hertogenbosch, where family members, his father, brothers, cousins, and uncles, who were also painters, worked under his guidance.

Erik Beenker / Boijmans van Beuningen
The Collection

Erik Beenker / Boijmans van Beuningen
The Collection

Photo's
wikipedia