The Table of the Seven Deadly Sins
by Hieronymus Bosch, 1505
Details
- Year
- 1505
- Medium
- Oil on wood
- Size
- 120 cm × 150 cm (47.2 × 59.1 in)
Hieronymus Bosch painted The Table of the Seven Deadly Sins around 1505-1510. The central circle shows Christ rising from his tomb, surrounded by scenes of the seven sins: anger, pride, lust, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and envy. Each sin appears as a contemporary genre scene that viewers could recognize from daily life.
Four corner roundels depict Death, Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, reminding viewers of the consequences. An inscription reads "Beware, beware, God sees." The format may have been a tabletop, allowing the owner to contemplate morality while dining. Sin becomes literally ordinary people behaving badly.
Philip II kept this work in his bedroom at the Escorial. The Prado displays it as one of Bosch's most didactic works.
