The Haywain Triptych
by Hieronymus Bosch, 1516
StyleNorthern Renaissance
Artwork Details
Details
- Year
- 1516
- Medium
- Oil on oak panels
- Size
- 147 cm × 212 cm (57.9 × 83.5 in) opened
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Hieronymus Bosch painted The Haywain Triptych around 1510-1516. When open, the panels show Eden on the left, Hell on the right, and in the center a massive hay wagon pulled toward damnation while humans fight to grab handfuls of straw. Closed, the panels show a wanderer walking a dangerous road.
The hay represents worldly goods and vanity, worthless yet fought over. Nobles, clergy, and commoners all grasp at the wagon. A proverb states "The world is a haystack; everyone takes what he can grab." Bosch illustrated human foolishness with his characteristic blend of the grotesque and moralistic.
King Philip II acquired this triptych for the Escorial. The Prado now displays it alongside Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.
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The Garden of Earthly Delights
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About The Haywain Triptych
The hay symbolizes worldly vanity, things people fight over that are ultimately worthless. A Flemish proverb compared the world to a haystack everyone tries to grab from.
Left: Creation and Fall in Eden. Center: humanity chasing the hay wagon. Right: Hell, the destination of human greed.
At the Museo del Prado in Madrid, which holds the finest collection of Bosch's work.
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