The hay wagon

Jheronimus van Aken (Bolduque, c. 1450-1516) is a Dutch painter and figure in Flemish painting, also known as Hieronymus Bosch or Hieronymus Bosch, he is one of the great figures of universal art due to his boundless imagination and his ability to create fantastic environments. A disconcerting painter since the medieval vision that he offers in his works presents him to us as a medieval man while his chronology, his passions and themes show us a man of the Renaissance. How to catalog it then?

In this lesson of unPROFESOR.com we offer you the commentary, analysis and meaning of the hay wagon of Bosco so that you can understand that inherent duality of the painter. Experts point out how the Bosch's ability to move is the key that explains how the Christian humanism of the painter, full of images with medieval references, moved to the public of the time concerned with sin, whereas today we see him as a surrealist and extravagant.

the hay wagon It is a work of El Bosco dated between years 1500 and 1516.

The work is a triptych that, if he admires himself closed, he shows us a pilgrim walking along the path of life and leaving all temptations aside. The pilgrim is a poor old man who carries a basket on his back and is armed with a cane. With it he defends himself from a dog that is stalking him, in addition to having already defended himself from an attack by bandits or not being tempted by the dance of a couple of shepherds.

It seems that the trip has no destination, but the old man continues because it is what he has to do. There is a bridge to cross and behind it a crucifix inside a small altar. Bosch places it at a point behind the characters, showing us how everyone has forgotten God.

Hieronymus Bosch's hay wagon: parts

• Inside in the left area, sin is shown to us beginning with the fall of the rebellious angels from heaven or the expulsion from Paradise. Bosch represents the metamorphosing angels, foregrounding the expulsion of Adam and Eve.
• In it panel center Bosch shows us Humanity dragged into sin and moving behind the hay wagon. A car that is the one that appears reflected in Isaiah 40.6 and that alludes to how ephemeral life is and how perishable earthly things are. Thus, it is believed that is inspired by a Flemish proverb which points out how the world is a hay wagon from which everyone takes what they can. In the painting, and under the gaze of Christ, all the estates, including the clergy, gather their handful of hay regardless of how and committing all kinds of sins and excesses to do so. Others try to jump on the bandwagon without realizing that the guides of the car are demons and lead them headlong to hell. While this is happening, El Bosco offers us close-up how daily life goes by, a unique document to know what life was like in those years. There is a multitude of characters following the car, from the Pope or the Emperor to a king, all defeated by greed and lust.
• Already in the right panel Bosch represents andl Hell in a different way by showing it under construction. The demons are busy building a circular tower and bringing in new sinners.

Picture the hay wagon is a masterpiece of Renaissance art and it represents a country scene full of symbolism and mystery. In the hay wagon, the author uses bright colors to create a sense of movement and dynamism in the image.

In addition, each detail of the painting has a symbolic meaning, from the human figures to the animals and plants found in the landscape. Through the image, Bosch touches themes such as life, death, religion, sin, temptations and morality.

The chariot represents greed and greed and attracts a large number of people, the intention of the painter being to convey a moralizing message, as well as offering us a complex and variegated composition, as well as highlighting the attention to detail with which the work is painted.

Regarding the drawing, the Hieronymus Bosch technique consists of carrying out a brush drawing with a fluid liquid medium. A drawing that is made quickly and with simple and schematic lines regarding the main elements that are part of the composition.

Faces turn into caricatures and they are drawn quickly, being just a few brief strokes to suggest the details of the faces. The contours of the figures and the folds of the garments are also highlighted. Only some figures receive a more detailed treatment and modeling, for example, in the case of angels.

On the other hand, there are elements that are drawn but are not colored, and there are also various rectifications and variations between the drawings and the pictorial layer.

In unProfesor we discover the Bosch's most important works.

the hay wagon represents a world full of symbolism in which the supernatural and the mundane intertwine reflecting the beliefs and values ​​of the time. Thus, El Bosco is a true master of symbology and the meaning of the work highlights the importance of an article like hay, essential in those centuries to heat homes in the winter.

Besides, the work affects greed and the accumulation of material goods and in the decadence of the Catholic Church afflicted by that same greed and desire for the mundane. The decline of catholicism It is thus reflected in a work carried out only a few years before Luther carried out the Protestant Reformation.

Bosch accuses all social classes for their greed, with the poorest having to fight more for wealth than the more favored social classes. The painter highlights the fleeting and deceptive that material wealth is and the dangers of blindly following it.

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