01
Hollow tree torso
A hollow, broken tree trunk forms the body, with a stern face peering out beneath the hat brim. Bosch builds a human figure out of a ruined tree.
1 of 5 on the painting
“Step into a surreal world where a tree-man's body becomes a tavern. This Hieronymus Bosch print is a bizarre, imaginative landscape filled with strange creatures and human folly, inviting you to unravel its mysterious narrative.”
ABOUT THIS WORK
A fantastical creature, half-man and half-tree, dominates the center of this etching and engraving. Its hollowed-out torso forms a tavern, complete with a ladder leading up to its head, which supports a bagpipe-playing figure and a flag. Below, the tree-man’s spindly legs, broken and stuck in boats, wade through icy water populated by skaters and a monstrous fish. Bosch's distinctive vision, filled with unsettling details and bizarre hybrid forms, reflects the anxieties and moral concerns prevalent in the Northern Renaissance. This print, likely derived from a lost drawing, captures the artist's unique ability to transform familiar elements into a nightmarish, yet strangely compelling, landscape of human folly and temptation. It invites viewers to decipher its complex symbolism, which often critiques human vice and the perils of worldly pleasures.
DETAILS
- Artist
- Hieronymus Bosch
- Medium
- etching and engraving
- Location
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Dimensions
- [object Object]
ART MOVEMENTS
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02
Jug on a brim
A big jug sits on a round spiked brim like a hat, with a ladder leaning up its side. It is an absurd crown on a strange figure.
2 of 5 on the painting
03
Tavern inside the body
Look into the broken opening of the trunk. Tiny figures sit at a table in there, as if the body were a cramped inn.
3 of 5 on the painting
04
Owl in the branches
An owl perches on a bare branch above the figure, looking out at us. Owls often carry associations with folly or hidden wickedness in Bosch's imagery, though the exact meaning here is open to interpretation.
4 of 5 on the painting
05
Crowd at the right
A group of villagers stands on the rise at right, and one figure stretches an arm out toward the strange tree. They act as stand-ins for us as onlookers.
5 of 5 on the painting
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THE ARTIST
Hieronymus Bosch
1450–1516 · Northern Low CountriesHieronymus Bosch, a Dutch painter from the Northern Low Countries, filled his oak panels with fantastic illustrations of religious concepts, from the Garden of Eden to macabre depictions of hell.
MORE FROM THIS ARTIST
Further Works by Bosch
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The Garden of Paradise
1495 · Art Institute of Chicago
The Conjurer (The Juggler)
1502
The Adoration of the Magi
Noordbrabants Museum
The Last Judgment
1478 · Art Institute of Chicago
Christ Child with a Walking Frame
1480 · Kunsthistorisches Museum
Crucifixion with a Donor
1485 · Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
St. John on Patmos
1489 · Gemäldegalerie Berlin
St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness
1489 · Lázaro Galdiano Museum
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