by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on November 4, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
A long fish stretches across the upper edge of the drawing, carrying a vessel on its back. Below it, an armed creature advances behind a round shield. Small owls stand nearby, while a large human head further down the page seems to have acquired limbs of its own. Each form is distinct enough to inspect separately, yet the sheet keeps suggesting ways in which one body might be rebuilt as another.
The drawing belongs to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where both faces of the paper are catalogued as Grotesque Studies, inventory WA1863.155. The museum attributes it to a follower of Hieronymus Bosch and dates it to about 1530–1550.[1] The face illustrated here is the verso, or reverse; the recto contains another gathering of heads, animals and hybrids. Together they preserve a repertoire of inventions rather than a single finished scene.
At a Glance
- WorkGrotesque Studies, also called Model Sheet with Monsters
- ArtistAnonymous follower of Hieronymus Bosch
- DateAbout 1530–1550, according to the current Ashmolean record
- MediumPen and brown ink on laid paper, both faces
- DimensionsSheet 31.7 × 20.9 cm, current museum measurement
- CollectionAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- InventoryWA1863.155
- AcquisitionFrancis Douce bequest, 1834; transferred from the Bodleian Library in 1863
- Illustrated faceVerso, containing the large fish and armed hybrid
Compare these works across Bosch’s career
These date ranges are estimates, not a documented year-by-year sequence. These works provide context for the article; none is highlighted as the object discussed here.
Saint Jerome at Prayer
Circa 1485–1495 [2]Crucifixion with a Donor
Circa 1490–1500 (BRCP) [2]Hermit Saints Triptych
Circa 1495–1505 [2]Saint Liberata Triptych
Circa 1495–1505 [2]The Hearing Forest and the Seeing Field
Circa 1500–1505 (Berlin exhibition) [3]The Haywain Triptych
1510–1516 (BRCP) [2]Contents
Annotated Details from The Oxford Monster Sheet
These views distinguish the two faces of Ashmolean WA1863.155. The fish and armed hybrid belong to the side used in the article’s existing photograph; a colour view shows the profile heads on the other face.
Side with the Fish and Armed Hybrid
Other Side: Profile Heads and Creatures
Details from THE OXFORD MONSTER SHEET
The museum attributes this sheet to a follower of Bosch. The photographs differ in colour and resolution, and each is retained without enlargement.
Side with the Fish and Armed Hybrid
The large fish above
A long fish-like creature stretches across the upper edge. Smaller forms gather along its back and near the upturned tail.
The armed hybrid
A round shield and a long spear are attached to an improbable body. The narrow supporting legs differ sharply from the broad shapes above them.
The lower profile head
A large profile head wears a broad, low hat. Its projecting nose and open mouth extend towards other small inventions beside it.
Other Side: Profile Heads and Creatures
Heads across the upper part
Large noses and pointed headgear dominate the upper part of the sheet. Their different profiles remain separate rather than forming a continuous scene.
Creatures in the middle
Small animals and a long-legged hybrid occupy the middle band. Open paper separates their feet, tails and lightly marked bodies.
Inventions along the lower edge
The lower part includes thin-legged creatures and a broad human face. The pen changes between delicate contours and closer groups of strokes.
Image and detail crops: Wikimedia Commons source 1; Wikimedia Commons source 2 (public domain reproductions).
A Fish That Becomes a Vessel
The fish provides a strong horizontal opening to the reverse. Its extended snout curves upwards at the left, while its body broadens beneath the small structure resting on it. The large eye and the rounded forms behind it still suggest a living animal. Along the upper edge, however, a raised rim, long projecting shafts and a cluster of occupants make the body serve as transport.
The invention does not require the animal to disappear. Its success depends on retaining enough of the fish to make its new function surprising. A viewer can follow the outline as anatomy, then return to it as the hull of an impossible craft. The creature and its cargo occupy one narrow band without being placed on a clearly drawn sea.
That absence of a setting affects the whole page. There is no horizon continuing from the fish to the figures below, and no shore explaining where it has arrived. Its action is contained within its own outline. Other forms on the sheet can therefore be studied beside it without becoming passengers, enemies or witnesses in an invented voyage.
The Armed Creature below the Fish
The next large figure has a different balance. Its head bends down towards the left, a rounded mass rises behind it, and thin legs support the body. A circular shield projects prominently at the right. Long shafts extend across the surrounding blank paper, giving this otherwise awkward creature a sense of reach.
A small hanging cup or bucket introduces another familiar object. Like the shield, it is recognisable even when the body carrying it refuses an ordinary anatomical explanation. The equipment supplies fragments of a human role: the creature appears armed, burdened and ready to move. Its identity remains less secure than any individual piece of its apparatus.
The contrast with the fish is especially instructive. The first invention becomes strange through its combination of animal and vehicle. The second draws upon a walking body and military equipment. They demonstrate different methods of construction on the same face of the paper, rather than simply repeating one grotesque formula at different sizes.
Owls, Cloaks and Detached Heads
Near the middle of the reverse, several small frontal forms interrupt the larger creatures. An owl stands with a compact body and conspicuous eyes. Nearby, a similar head emerges above a long, enclosing shape that can be read as a cloak. Another figure spreads into a broader skirt-like outline, with small projections around its lower edge.
Viewed together, these studies make the boundary between feathers and clothing unstable. A body can be shortened, concealed or replaced while its face remains the point of recognition. The intervals of untouched paper help the comparison: each little figure has enough space to establish its own proportions before the eye moves to the next.
Further down, a large head in a broad hat develops a more complicated relationship with the limbs around it. The face is no longer simply placed on top of a conventional torso. Hands, feet and projecting shapes gather around it, making the head appear capable of carrying out the work of an entire body.
These forms can be comic and unsettling at the same time. Their small scale encourages inspection, but their parts repeatedly refuse to settle into a familiar whole. The effect comes from recognisable eyes, sleeves, beaks and feet assembled under unfamiliar rules. Calling them monsters describes that transformation without requiring each one to illustrate a particular moral offence.
The Other Face: Beaks, Animals and Long Legs
Turning to the recto changes the arrangement while continuing the same interest in bodily invention. Several heads near the top wear elaborate or pointed coverings. One has a long beak beneath a broad, low hat; another combines a tall rounded headdress with an extended face. The outlines of costume help exaggerate the profiles rather than restore them to ordinary human proportions.
Lower down, a central creature carries its human-looking face beneath a spreading feathered form. Two extraordinarily long legs descend into the empty paper. The head, plumage and legs are easy to recognise separately, yet the proportions prevent them from forming a plausible bird or person.
An animal resembling a boar occupies the lower left area, while a donkey stands towards the right. Their more familiar bodies make the surrounding inventions look stranger. The page does not divide neatly into natural animals on one side and imaginary creatures on the other; instead, recognisable forms appear among combinations that progressively alter their structure.
At the lower right, a large face emerges from drapery, with hands brought forward beneath it. The compact arrangement differs sharply from the central creature’s stretched legs. Across a single face of the sheet, the draughtsman tests how a body changes when it is compressed around a head, elongated below it or partially concealed by cloth.
Why It Is Called a Model Sheet
The title Model Sheet with Monsters was used for this drawing in the 2016 exhibition catalogue Visions of Genius.[4] It describes a useful way of understanding the separate figures. A repertoire of forms could be consulted, copied or adapted without having been designed for one predetermined composition.
The page supports that reading through its organisation. Figures gather in loose groups, but no continuous landscape joins them. Scale varies according to the space occupied by an invention, rather than its position within a shared perspective. A large head can sit close to a small standing owl without either becoming a giant or a miniature within a story.
Model sheet does not establish exactly how the paper was used. It does not identify an owner, a commission or a painting into which every figure was transferred. The drawing preserves possibilities. Its orderly separations allow a viewer to imagine selecting a head or body for reuse, while the actual history of such selections remains only partly recoverable.
The Connection with a Berlin Drawing
There is a more specific reason to associate these inventions with Bosch. The Ashmolean points to related animal heads on the reverse of the Berlin drawing known as The Wood Has Ears, the Field Has Eyes, inventory KdZ 549.[1] The connection concerns that sheet’s working reverse, rather than the celebrated arrangement of tree, ears and eyes on its front.
The Bosch Research and Conservation Project develops the comparison in its catalogue. An animal near the upper edge of the Berlin reverse combines elements that appear separately in more complete forms on the two faces of the Oxford sheet. Its discussion and accompanying illustrations distinguish the components, including a head on the Oxford verso and part of the long-legged monster on the recto.[5]
This relationship is more interesting than a simple claim that the Oxford artist copied the surviving Berlin page. The 2016 exhibition catalogue proposes that the Oxford draughtsman knew fuller versions of Bosch’s inventions.[4] On that interpretation, the sheet may preserve access to designs that no longer survive independently. The argument concerns the transmission of motifs; it does not make the Oxford pen strokes Bosch’s own.
A Follower’s Drawing and Its Date
The distinction between invention and execution is central to the attribution. The current museum commentary finds the Oxford handling less confident than Bosch’s and assigns the sheet to a follower.[1] Its suggestion that the draughtsman might have encountered original motifs in Bosch’s workshop remains a possibility, rather than a documented apprenticeship.
The museum’s date of about 1530–1550 also matters. It places the surviving drawing after Bosch’s death in 1516. A later sheet can carry earlier designs without having been drawn during the master’s lifetime. Neither the shared motifs nor the proposed date identifies when its maker first encountered those designs, or whether the immediate source was another copy.
The pale brown lines vary in density, with some faces and folds more closely worked than neighbouring contours. Such differences invite slow looking, but do not by themselves demonstrate several artists or separate periods of work. The current catalogue identifies pen and brown ink on laid paper for both faces.[1] Naming additional materials or reconstructing a sequence of hands would require evidence beyond differences visible in reproduction.
From Francis Douce to the Ashmolean
The museum records the drawing as a bequest from Francis Douce in 1834. It passed to the Bodleian Library and was transferred in 1863.[1] That history explains why the year in its Ashmolean accession number is later than the date of the bequest. Neither year dates the making of the monsters.
The current record measures the sheet at 31.7 by 20.9 centimetres. The 2016 exhibition catalogue gives 321 by 211 millimetres and describes the ink as ochre-coloured.[1][4] Those descriptions should remain attached to their respective catalogues; they do not identify two different drawings. The inventory, collection history and reproduced figures establish the same double-sided object.
Its collecting history preserves a page whose individual inventions remain unusually accessible. Start with the fish, then follow the shield, the owl, the elongated legs and the head emerging from cloth. Each can be examined as a small solution to the problem of building an unfamiliar body from familiar parts. Looking across both faces reveals how much variety that limited set of operations can produce.
Artworks and related attributions
Browse paintings, drawings and related attributions. Records group triptychs, fragments and two-sided sheets where appropriate. Dates follow the cited museum records or catalogue headings and are generally estimates. Rows marked “2016 catalogue” report that publication’s attribution and collection information; these are dated opinions, rather than a claim that every work is an accepted autograph Bosch.
| Name | Date | Medium, attribution and collection |
|---|---|---|
| A Crossbowman | Second half of the sixteenth century | Oil on oak panel · Copy after Hieronymus Bosch · Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid · P002695 Source 1. Source 2. |
| A Woman Spinning and an Old Woman | Museum estimates: about 1480–1490 for the women and 1500–1505 for the reverse; the precise chronology is disputed | Pen and brown and grey ink on the front; pen and brown ink on the reverse · Hieronymus Bosch · Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam · N 190 recto and verso (PK) Source 1. Source 2. |
| Adoration of the Child in Cologne | Second half of the sixteenth century | Oil on oak panel · Imitator of Hieronymus Bosch, in the city collection record · Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne · WRM 0474 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Adoration of the Magi in Philadelphia | Early sixteenth century in the museum record; around 1495–1520 in the BRCP catalogue | Oil on oak panel · Hieronymus Bosch in the museum record; workshop of Bosch in the 2016 BRCP catalogue · Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection, 1917 · 1321; museum object 103592 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Adoration of the Magi — New York | c.1470–1480 | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; oil on oak · Metropolitan Museum 13.26 2016 catalogue. |
| Adoration of the Magi — Prado triptych | c.1494 | Oil on oak; grisaille exterior · Bosch · Prado P002048 Object source. |
| Adoration of the Magi — three associated fragments | c.1515–1535 | 2016 catalogue: Follower of Bosch · Two Shepherds / Retinue in Philadelphia; associated Adoration in private collection in 2016 2016 catalogue. |
| Ascent of the Blessed — Venice | c.1505–1515 | Oil on panel · Bosch · Gallerie dell’Accademia; Visions of the Hereafter Object source. |
| Battle of the Birds and Mammals | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; pen and brown ink · Berlin KdZ 14715 2016 catalogue. |
| Beggars and Musicians | Around 1530–1540 | Ink and wash on paper · Unknown follower of Hieronymus Bosch · Albertina, Vienna · 7798 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Christ Carrying the Cross Drawing | Around 1470 in the museum catalogue | Black chalk or charcoal, pen and brush in brown ink, white corrections · Anonymous, workshop of Rogier van der Weyden · Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam · N 81 recto and verso (PK) Source 1. Source 2. |
| Christ Carrying the Cross in Vienna | Around 1490–1510 in the current KHM record and BRCP catalogue | Oil on oak, painted on both sides · Hieronymus Bosch; possible workshop involvement in the Passion side discussed by the BRCP · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna · Gemäldegalerie, GG 6429 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Christ Carrying the Cross — El Escorial | c.1495–1505 | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; oil on oak · Patrimonio Nacional 10014739 2016 catalogue. |
| Christ Carrying the Cross — Ghent | c.1510–1516 (museum) | Oil on panel · Bosch in museum listing; authorship disputed · MSK Ghent 1902-H Object source. |
| Christ Mocked — London | c.1510 | Oil on wood · Bosch · National Gallery NG4744 Object source. |
| Concert in the Egg, After Hieronymus Bosch | Around 1561; third quarter of the sixteenth century | Oil on canvas · Anonymous, after Hieronymus Bosch · Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille · P 816 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Conjurer / Comical Concert — Louvre drawing | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch (recto), follower (concert verso) · Pen and brown ink · Louvre INV 19197 2016 catalogue. |
| Conjurer / Cross-bearing and beggars — Liège sheet | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch (verso), follower (recto) · Pen and brown ink · Album d’Arenberg 534 2016 catalogue. |
| Crowning with Thorns — El Escorial | c.1530–1540 | 2016 catalogue: Follower of Bosch; oil on oak · Patrimonio Nacional 10014743 2016 catalogue. |
| Crucifixion with a Donor | Circa 1495–1505; Circa 1490–1500 | Oil on oak panel · Hieronymus Bosch · Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels · 6639 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Death and the Miser Drawing | Not securely established; probably made after the painting | Pen and brush, dark ink and white highlights on prepared paper · Workshop of Hieronymus Bosch in the BRCP catalogue; alternatives recorded by the Louvre · Musée du Louvre, Department of Prints and Drawings, Paris · RF 6947, Recto Source 1. Source 2. |
| Death and the Miser — Washington | c.1485/1490 (NGA) | Oil on panel · Bosch · National Gallery of Art 1952.5.33 Object source. |
| Ecce Homo Triptych — Boston | c.1495–1500; wings c.1500/1503 | 2016 catalogue: Workshop of Bosch; oil on oak · Museum of Fine Arts Boston; several production phases 2016 catalogue. |
| Ecce Homo — Frankfurt | c.1490 | Mixed technique on oak · Bosch · Städel 1577 Object source. |
| Fall of the Damned — Venice | c.1505–1515 | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; oil on panel · Visions of the Hereafter · Venice 2016 catalogue. |
| Garden of Earthly Delights | 1490–1500 (Prado) | Oil on oak; grisaille exterior · Bosch · Prado; triptych Object source. |
| Gluttony and Lust / Allegory of Intemperance — Yale fragment | c.1500–1510 (group dating) | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; oil on oak · Yale 1959.15.22; fragment associated with Ship of Fools 2016 catalogue. |
| Group of Ten Spectators, a Follower of Bosch | Around 1510–1540 in the current museum record | Pen and two brown inks on paper, with a brown framing line · Follower of Hieronymus Bosch in the Morgan record; Bosch in the BRCP catalogue · Morgan Library & Museum, New York · I, 112 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Head of an Old Woman | About 1500 | Oil on panel · Attributed to Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen · Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam · 2439 (OK) Source 1. Source 2. |
| Hell and the Flood — Rotterdam panels | Around 1515 in the museum records; around 1510–1520 in the BRCP catalogue | Oil on oak panels · Jheronimus Bosch in the museum records; workshop of Bosch in the BRCP catalogue · Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Source 1. Source 2. |
| Hermit Saints Triptych | Circa 1495–1505 | Oil on oak panels · Hieronymus Bosch · Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice · 2044 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Infernal Landscape | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; pen and brown ink, red accent · Private collection in 2016 2016 catalogue. |
| Infernal Scene with Anvil / Monster Studies | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; attribution debated in entry · Pen and brown ink · Berlin KdZ 548 2016 catalogue. |
| Infernal Scene with Tree-Man / Standing Man | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Workshop of Bosch; pen and brown ink · Dresden C 1875; historical reverse title includes a proposed prophet 2016 catalogue. |
| Job Triptych — Bruges | c.1510–1520 | 2016 catalogue: Workshop of Bosch; oil on oak · Groeningemuseum / Hoeke loan in 2016 2016 catalogue. |
| Last Judgement — Bruges triptych | c.1495–1505 | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; oil on oak · Groeningemuseum 2016 catalogue. |
| Last Judgement — Munich fragment | c.1530–1540 | 2016 catalogue: Follower of Bosch; oil on oak · Alte Pinakothek 5752 2016 catalogue. |
| Last Judgement — Vienna triptych | c.1500–1505 (BRCP 2016) | Oil on oak · Bosch and workshop (BRCP 2016) · Academy of Fine Arts Vienna 2016 catalogue. |
| Man in a Basket and Comic Figures | Around 1500–1515 in the museum record | Pen and brown ink on paper; the reverse is catalogued as iron-gall ink · Hieronymus Bosch in the current Albertina record; attribution has been debated · Albertina, Vienna · 7797 recto and verso Source 1. Source 2. |
| Man Seen from Behind | About 1550–1569; About 1565–1570 | Traces of black chalk, pen and brush in light brown ink · Anonymous, circle of Pieter Bruegel the Elder · Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam Source 1. Source 2. |
| Mary and John at the Foot of the Cross | About 1440 | Brush in grey and black · Unknown, possibly Netherlandish · Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden · C 815 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Model Sheet with ‘Witches’ | Disputed; proposals depend on the attribution | Pen and brown ink; the BRCP also records underlying black chalk · Hieronymus Bosch; follower attributions also recorded · Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques, Paris · INV 19721 recto Source 1. Source 2. |
| Peasant and Three Bust-Length Figures | 1401–1500 | Brown pen over a black preliminary drawing · Attributed to the Master of the Drapery Studies; Bosch circle also recorded · Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin · KdZ 777 Source 1. Source 2. |
| River to Hell — Venice | c.1505–1515 | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; oil on panel · Visions of the Hereafter · Venice 2016 catalogue. |
| Saint Anthony and a Concert in an Egg | Around 1510–1525 in the museum’s 2016–17 exhibition texts | Pen in light and dark brown inks · Workshop of Hieronymus Bosch; underlying monsters: Bosch (BRCP), possibly Bosch (exhibition text) · Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin · KdZ 711 recto and verso Source 1. Source 2. |
| Saint Christopher Carrying the Christ Child | c.1500; 1490–1505 in restoration material | Oil on panel · Bosch · Boijmans St 26 Object source. |
| Saint James and Hermogenes | About 1551–1575 in the KIK-IRPA catalogue | Oil on wood, painted on both sides · Anonymous follower of Hieronymus Bosch · Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes · P.46.1.44; older number 176 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Saint Jerome at Prayer | Circa 1485–1495 | Oil on oak panel · Hieronymus Bosch · Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent · 1908-H Source 1. Source 2. |
| Saint John on Patmos / Passion Scenes | c.1495–1505; estimates vary | Oil on oak · Bosch · Gemäldegalerie Berlin 1647A Object source. |
| Saint John the Baptist in Meditation | Late 15th century; c.1485–1510 (Prado exhibition) | Oil on panel · Bosch · Lázaro Galdiano 8155 Object source. |
| Saint Liberata Triptych | Circa 1495–1505 | Oil on oak panels · Hieronymus Bosch · Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice · 2045 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things | 1505–1510 (Prado) | Oil on poplar · Bosch (Prado); workshop/follower disputed · Prado Object source. |
| Ship of Fools — Louvre painting | 1475–1500 (record); c.1505–1515 (exhibition) | Oil on oak · Bosch · Louvre RF 2218; fragment Object source. |
| Ship of Fools — Louvre workshop drawing | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Workshop of Bosch · Pen, brush, grey-brown ink and white highlights on prepared paper · Louvre RF 3714 2016 catalogue. |
| Studies of Monsters | About 1530–1550, according to the current Ashmolean record | Pen and brown ink on laid paper, both faces · Anonymous follower of Hieronymus Bosch · Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford · WA1863.155 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Studies of Saint Anthony and Monsters | No execution date specified in the current Louvre records | Pen and brown ink on paper · Bosch listed; reverse questioned by Louvre; BRCP accepts both faces · Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques, Paris · INV 20871 recto and verso Source 1. Source 2. |
| Temptation of Saint Anthony — Kansas City fragment | c.1500–1510 | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; oil on oak · Nelson-Atkins 35–22 2016 catalogue. |
| Temptation of Saint Anthony — Lisbon triptych | c.1500 | Oil on oak · Bosch · Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga 1498 Pint Museum. |
| Temptation of Saint Anthony — Prado panel | c.1530–1540 | 2016 catalogue: Follower of Bosch (2016 opinion); oil on oak · Prado P002049 2016 catalogue. |
| Terrestrial Paradise | Approximately 1505–1515 | Oil on oak panel · Hieronymus Bosch · Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice Source 1. Source 2. |
| The Burning Ship Drawing | 1500–1520 | Pen and iron gall ink on paper · Attributed to Hieronymus Bosch · Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Graphic Collection · HZ-2554; numbered 2554 in the BRCP catalogue Source 1. Source 2. |
| The Comical Barber Scene | About 1550–1580, according to the British Museum | Pen and brown ink, grey and brown wash, over black chalk · Anonymous follower, after Hieronymus Bosch · British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London · 1854,0628.46 Source 1. Source 2. |
| The Conjuror, After Hieronymus Bosch | Probably after 1525; around 1530–1540 in the BRCP technical report | Oil on oak panel · Anonymous follower of Hieronymus Bosch · Musée Ducastel-Vera, Saint-Germain-en-Laye · 872.1.87 Source 1. Source 2. |
| The Cure of Folly / Extraction of the Stone of Madness | 1501–1505 (Prado) | Oil on oak · Bosch (Prado); workshop/follower disputed · Prado P002056 Object source. |
| The Entombment Drawing | About 1505–1515, current museum record | Brush and black and grey ink, with grey wash, over black chalk · Workshop of Hieronymus Bosch; drawn by the Master of the Prado Haywain Triptych; Hieronymus Bosch, argued by the BRCP in 2016 · British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London · 1952,0405.9 Source 1. Source 2. |
| The Gathering of the Birds | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; pen and brown ink · Berlin KdZ 13136 2016 catalogue. |
| The Haywain — Prado triptych | 1510–1516 (BRCP 2016) | Oil on oak · Bosch (BRCP 2016) · Prado; separate Escorial version exists 2016 catalogue. |
| The Hearing Forest and the Seeing Field | Circa 1500–1505 | Pen and brown ink on paper · Hieronymus Bosch; reverse: Bosch and workshop · Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin · KdZ 549, front and reverse Source 1. Source 2. |
| The Owl’s Nest — Rotterdam | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch; pen and brown ink · Boijmans N 175 2016 catalogue. |
| The Passion Triptych in Valencia | Workshop of Bosch, about 1510–1520; Follower of Bosch; centre about 1530–1540, wings about 1540–1550 | Oil and gold on oak panels · Workshop of Bosch, about 1510–1520; Follower of Bosch; centre about 1530–1540, wings about 1540–1550 · Museu de Belles Arts de València Source 1. Source 2. |
| The Pedlar / Wayfarer — Rotterdam | c.1500 (museum) | Oil on panel · Bosch · Boijmans 1079 (OK); rejoined exterior Object source. |
| The Tree-Man — Vienna drawing | c.1505 | Pen and brown ink · Bosch · Albertina, Vienna Object source. |
| The Wedding at Cana, After Hieronymus Bosch | Approximately 1560 in the current museum record | Oil on panel, 93 cm high × 72 cm wide · Anonymous, after Hieronymus Bosch · Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, St 25 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Two Fantastical Creatures — Berlin KdZ 550 | Around 1505–1515 in the museum’s 2016 exhibition text | Pen in brown ink on reddish prepared laid paper · Hieronymus Bosch · Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin · KdZ 550, recto and verso Source 1. Source 2. |
| Two Figures Wearing Mitres | About 1480 | Oil on panel · Anonymous (Boijmans); Bosch circle (RKD) · Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam · 1177 (OK) Source 1. Source 2. |
| Two Men and the Temptation of Eve | About 1505–1515 in the Prado’s 2016 exhibition guide | Pen and grey-brown ink on paper · Hieronymus Bosch in the 2016 catalogues discussed here · Private collection, as recorded in 2016 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Two Men Fighting | Not specified in the current Louvre record | Pen and brown ink · In the manner of Hieronymus Bosch · Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts graphiques, Paris · INV 20660 recto; formerly NIII 8896 and MA 8400 Source 1. Source 2. |
| Two Men — Berlin KdZ 5210 | Not specified in catalogue heading | 2016 catalogue: Bosch questioned · Pen, brush, ink, chalk and white highlights · Berlin KdZ 5210; historical title Two Oriental Men 2016 catalogue. |
| Two Monsters — Berlin KdZ 547 | Approximately 1500–1510 in Berlin's 2016 exhibition catalogue; an estimated range | Pen and brown ink on paper · Hieronymus Bosch · Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin · KdZ 547, drawn on both sides Source 1. Source 2. |
Frequently Asked Questions
The Ashmolean attributes WA1863.155 to a follower of Bosch, about 1530–1550. It is not currently catalogued as Bosch’s own drawing.[1]
It came through Francis Douce’s 1834 bequest and was transferred from the Bodleian Library in 1863, according to the museum record.[1]
Discussion
Compare the separate inventions across both faces of this follower’s model sheet.
Reader Insights
How does the fish’s burden turn it into something like a vessel?
Compare the armed creature’s balance with the smaller owls nearby.
What changes when each monster is viewed independently rather than as part of one scene?
Join the Conversation
Share a detail, comparison or question about Studies of Monsters: The Ashmolean Model Sheet below.
References
- Ashmolean Museum: Grotesque Studies, recto and verso, WA1863.155, current collection record View source.
- BRCP Catalogue Raisonné (2016), object dates in catalogues 1, 2, 8, 15 and 20; catalogue 20 object metadata only for the Haywain comparison. View source
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2016 exhibition wall texts, p. 3: approximate date of KdZ 549. View source
- Ilsink, Koldeweij and de Mooij: Hieronymus Bosch, Visions of Genius, 2016, entry 38, pages 126–127; worklist page 186 View source.
- Bosch Research and Conservation Project: Catalogue Raisonné, 2016, entry 37, pages 503–505 and note 21 View source.
- Splash image, Anonymous follower of Hieronymus Bosch, Grotesque Studies (verso), about 1530–1550, pen and brown ink on laid paper, sheet 31.7 × 20.9 cm, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, WA1863.155. Francis Douce bequest, 1834. View source.
