Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch

Where? Gallery 41 of the National Gallery of Art
When? Between 1485 and 1516
What do you see? The final moments of the life of a miser, who is a stingy person collecting a lot of wealth. The painting consists of three scenes.

• Top scene: The naked miser sits in his bed with a canopy, within a narrow room with an arched ceiling of wood. On the left, a skeleton representing Death enters the room with a long arrow in his right hand (also note the shadow of the arrow on the curtain). To the left of the miser, a devil offers him a bag of money. To the right of the miser, an angel has one hand on his shoulder and points with the other hand at a crucifix placed in the window on the top left. A beam of light shines through the window behind the crucifix in the direction of the miser. On top of the bed is another devil holding the fire of Hell. The miser needs to choose between remaining attached to his earthly wealth or detaching from it before he dies, just like Jesus did.
• Middle scene: The old man dressed in green is the same miser but at an earlier stage of his life. He supports himself with a cane, and the key to the trunk is attached to his robe. He faces the dilemma between faith, illustrated by the rosary in his left hand, and wealth, illustrated by his right hand with which he puts money in the bag held by a rat-like devil. Other items in the trunk are a sealed letter, a small golden weight, a dagger, and two metal cups. To the left of the trunk, a devil crushed under the trunk holds another sealed letter in his hand. The letters may contain information about the miser's (sinful) mercenary activities.  Another devil is partly hidden under the trunk.
• Bottom scene: You can see some weapons, some pieces of armor, a jacket, and a cloak (with a devil behind it). It is not clear why these items are shown here, but there are two dominant explanations. These items either refer to the earlier life of the miser as a knight or they refer to the fact that weapons and armor are useless in the face of death.

Backstory: The inspiration for this painting comes from the 15th-century book, Ars Moriendi, which is a combination of two Latin texts on how to die well. This book discusses the challenges of dying and what choices a human should make when they know they will die. This painting by Bosch was part of a triptych. Death of the Miser probably was the painting on the right side of the triptych. The painting on the left side of the triptych has been cut into two pieces. The bottom piece is Allegory of Gluttony and Lust in the Yale University Art Gallery, and the top piece is The Ship of Fools in the Louvre. The middle of the triptych has never been identified.

Allegory of Gluttony and Lust by Bosch

The Ship of Fools by Bosch

Symbolism: The moral message of this painting is a warning against greed. Humans often face the tradeoff between earthly wealth, also referred to as avarice, and faith. The items in the trunk (the dagger, metal cups, and the golden weight) represent various items that people pawned when they were in need of money. These items were typically pawned against a high interest rate, which was against the laws of the Church.
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Who is Bosch? Hieronymus Bosch, also known as Jhernoymus or Jeroen Bosch, was born around 1450 under the name Jheronymus van Aken in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, in the south of The Netherlands. He also died there in 1516. He was an innovative painter who found novel ways to depict existing themes. He is especially known for his satiric paintings. Not too much is known about his life and therefore there is also a lot of debate whether Bosch really created certain paintings and when he created them. However, his innovative works have had a big influence on future painters, such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Salvador Dalí. His most famous work is the Garden of Earthly Delights in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch

Fun fact: Based on infrared pictures, various adjustments to this painting by Bosch have been discovered. For example, in the underdrawing, the miser initially held a covered goblet that he seemed to offer to the figure of Death near the door. This would be an obvious clue that the miser wanted to offer Death some earthly wealth to change his decision. In the final version of the painting, the miser is looking at Death while pointing with his right hand to the money bag that is held by the devil. This clue is a bit more ambiguous but still suggests that the miser wants to offer money to Death. Another example is that the underdrawing shows the inclusion of a flask with drinking glasses and a rosary in the scene in the foreground.
​Interested in a copy for yourself? Poster.

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Written by Eelco Kappe

References:

• Morganstern, Anne M. (1982), “The Pawns in Bosch's ‘Death and the Miser’,” Studies in the History of Art, 12, 33-41
• Vinken, Pierre and Lucy Schlüter (2000), “The Foreground of Bosch’s Death and the Miser,” Oud Holland,114(2/4), 69-78.