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The Garden of Earthly Delights
Hieronymus Bosch
A triptych whose hinged construction makes every movement a structural problem as much as a conservation one.
- Artist
- Hieronymus Bosch
- Date
- c. 1490–1510
- Medium
- Oil on oak panels
- Dimensions
- 205.5 × 384.9 cm
- Location
- Museo del Prado, Madrid
History
What the record shows
The wings close over the central panel to reveal a grisaille creation scene, so the work must be transported closed and braced.
The Prado has declined nearly all loan requests; the triptych has left Madrid only a handful of times in a century.
Provenance
Chain of ownership
- 01Recorded in the palace of Henry III of Nassau, Brussels, 1517
- 02Acquired by Philip II of Spain, 1591
- 03El Escorial, from 1593
- 04Museo del Prado from 1939
