The Iconographic collections of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / William Schupbach.
- Wellcome Historical Medical Library
- Date:
- 1989
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: The Iconographic collections of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine / William Schupbach. Source: Wellcome Collection.
11/80 (page 5)
![Fig. 2 a reduced copy by an unknown painter, perhaps a Fleming active in the mid- sixteenth century, of the central panel of a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516), which is now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Among the profusion of themes which may be found in the picture, it was probably the ideas of primitivism, ritual, ethnicity, nudity, and the ever-problematic relations between man, beast and plant, which attracted Wellcome to the picture. See further p. 53. The composition has been referred to by many different names (El trdfago del mundo, Die Welt lust, De tuin der lusten, The garden of earthly delights etc.), their variety reflecting both the plethora of scenes within the picture and uncertainty of their combined significance. These names, however, should not be understood as titles. Old master pictures did not have titles and were usually referred to by their subjects. Modern titles given to old pictures have no authority. It would be impossible to entitle the present picture without giving a false impression of its subject. Oil painting on oak panel 133 x 115 cm., anonymous [c. 1550?] after Hieronymus Bosch](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b20456840_0011.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
