De Bruyn 2022a
“Op verkenning in de Tuin der Lusten 3 – De zondige ruiterkring van Jheronimus Bosch” (Eric De Bruyn) 2022
[in: Bossche Kringen, vol. 9, nr. 1 (March 2022), pp. 27-29]
With the cavalcade of male riders turning around a pond with naked bathing females, Bosch combined three traditional iconographic and literary motifs: the idea that sin reduces man to the level of a beast, riding animals in the nude and without spurs, saddle, or bridle as an image of unbridled sexual desire, and turning or dancing to the left (anti-clockwise) as a metaphor for passion which is inspired by the devil and leads to Unchastity. The complete scene can be linked to the sinful souls turning anti-clockwise around a giant bagpipes in the right interior panel (i.e. in Hell). Both details point out that indulging in sexual desires is a never-ending story and leads to eternal punishment in Hell.
[explicit 16th March 2022]
