Artwork Page for The Tree Man

Details / Information for The Tree Man

The Tree Man

c. 1560–1600, first edition printed c. 1715

after Hieronymous Bosch

(Netherlandish, c. 1450–1516)
Culture
Netherlands
Medium
etching and engraving
Measurements
Platemark: 20.8 cm (8 3/16 in.); Sheet: 37 x 26.2 cm (14 9/16 x 10 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2025.139
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

At the bottom of the composition Bosch portrays a painter, an astronomer, and an Aesopian figure (or fableist), practitioners who use illusion to convey the world’s truths, and might be interpreted as Bosch himself.

Description

Hieronymus Bosch is largely considered the first European artist to give free rein to his imagination, as embodied in his depiction of fantastic, often diabolical creatures in the context of the traditional Catholic altarpiece. Based on a drawing by Bosch now at the Albertina Museum, Vienna, this etching of the Tree Man cleverly and uncannily merges anthropomorphic, organic, and man-made elements into a monstrous creature who stands at the center. The creature combines various proverbial subjects that appear throughout Bosch’s oeuvre, such as a ship of fools (denoting collective foolishness), and a cracked egg (a symbol of earthly vanity). Onlookers to the right and below act as witnesses to the folly. In the Christian context within which Bosch made the composition, the figure may broadly be understood as an image of sinful decrepitude. Yet, the Tree Man’s significance cannot be reduced to single, definitive meaning.
A circular print in black ink depicts a landscape centered on a hollow-bodied figure with tree-trunk legs standing in two boats. People sit at a table inside its cracked shell. The figure wears a wide hat supporting a large jug and ladder. To its right, people stand on a cliff looking toward the center. Spindly, leafless trees, an owl, birds, and a crescent-moon flag populate the fantastical scene.

The Tree Man

c. 1560–1600, first edition printed c. 1715

Hieronymous Bosch

(Netherlandish, c. 1450–1516)
Netherlands

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