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
Two men lean close together, their faces almost meeting. One looks out from beneath a low cap; the other turns in profile, his nose, lower lip and chin projecting towards his companion. A hand rises between their bodies, giving the encounter the feeling of a conversation caught before its meaning has become clear. The drawing is small, but the exchange seems to occupy all the available space.
On the other side of the same paper, Eve faces a tempter beside a slender tree. The change of subject is accompanied by a change of handling: the figures are much more lightly indicated than the men’s heads. The Bosch Research and Conservation Project’s 2016 catalogue publishes both faces as drawings by Hieronymus Bosch, under the titles Two Men and The Temptation of Eve.[4] Examining the whole sheet reveals more than the older title Two Caricatured Heads suggests.
At a Glance
- FrontTwo Men
- ReverseThe Temptation of Eve
- AttributionHieronymus Bosch in the 2016 catalogues discussed here
- DateAbout 1505–1515 in the Prado’s 2016 exhibition guide
- MediumPen and grey-brown ink on paper
- Dimensions13.7 × 10.3 cm
- CollectionPrivate collection, as recorded in 2016
- Exhibition loan referenceL.1975.38.20, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Physical historyCropped on all sides; the front’s border was added later
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 [1]Crucifixion with a Donor
Circa 1490–1500 (BRCP) [1]Hermit Saints Triptych
Circa 1495–1505 [1]Saint Liberata Triptych
Circa 1495–1505 [1]The Hearing Forest and the Seeing Field
Circa 1500–1505 (Berlin exhibition) [5]The Haywain Triptych
1510–1516 (BRCP) [1]Contents
- Introduction
- Annotated Details
- A Conversation Made from Faces and a Hand
- The Profile at the Right
- What Does Caricature Mean Here?
- Turning to Eve and the Tempter
- A Small Scene of Temptation
- Different Degrees of Finish on One Sheet
- Why the BRCP Attributes It to Bosch
- Cropping and a Later Border
- A Private Drawing in Public Exhibitions
Annotated Details from Two Men and the Temptation of Eve
Two men occupy one face of this small sheet; the other face carries the scene discussed in the article as Eve and the serpent.
Two Men
Other Side: Eve and the Serpent
Details from TWO MEN AND THE TEMPTATION OF EVE
The photographs differ in colour and resolution. Each is shown without enlargement or reconstruction.
Two Men
The man at the left
The left figure turns towards his companion beneath a folded cap. Fine parallel strokes gather beneath the chin and around the neck.
The hooded profile
The hood encloses a broad profile. The long nose and the lowered eyelid interrupt the otherwise softly curving outline of the head covering.
The extended hand
A hand extends across the lower part of the group. Its small, bending fingers form a more concentrated passage than the broad, lightly described garments.
Other Side: Eve and the Serpent
The encounter between two figures
Two figures face one another beneath the tree. An extended arm links them across the open centre, while the narrower figure on the right stands beside a long vertical line.
Image and detail crops: Wikimedia Commons source 1; Wikimedia Commons source 2 (public domain reproductions).
A Conversation Made from Faces and a Hand
The man on the left is turned far enough towards the viewer for both eyes to remain visible. Small strokes gather around them, while the mouth opens slightly beneath a broad nose. The face is rounded and comparatively compact. Its modelling depends on a scattering of marks rather than a smooth, continuous passage of shadow.
His cap has a low crown and a broad folded band. Loose ends extend towards the right, while a longer strip falls beside his cheek at the left. Below the face, close parallel strokes cross a broad area of cloth. Their regular slant gives the neck and upper chest a different texture from the more restless marks around the eyes.
The raised hand adds direction to the encounter. Emerging from a wide sleeve, it extends into the space beneath the other man’s face. Two fingers are especially easy to follow. The gesture gives the figure an active role without supplying words: he might be explaining, interrupting or emphasising something, but the drawing does not tell us precisely what is being said.
That small interval between hand and face carries much of the drawing’s tension. The men are pressed close enough for the gesture to feel consequential. Yet the hand does not clearly strike, seize or hold an object. The exchange remains an action in progress, inviting attention without resolving into a fully identified event.
The Profile at the Right
The other man’s head presents a more emphatic outline. The forehead descends towards a long nose; below it, the lip projects above a substantial chin. Short strokes describe the eye and the hair emerging from beneath the head covering. The face has less room to turn, and its leftward direction concentrates attention upon the companion.
A hood-like covering curves over the crown and falls beside the neck. Several lines run along its upper edge, giving the cloth thickness without enclosing every fold. Further down, long curves define the hanging material while leaving large areas of the garment almost untouched. The face is the most insistently worked part of this figure.
The difference between the two heads makes them memorable. One is broader and more frontal, with many small facial marks; the other is organised around a strongly projecting profile. Neither has to be a portrait of a known sitter for those differences to create an encounter. Their bodies provide support, but their faces and the intervening hand carry its expressive weight.
What Does Caricature Mean Here?
The name Two Caricatured Heads draws attention to exaggerated features, particularly those of the man at the right. The 2016 exhibition catalogue Visions of Genius interprets the figures as morally suspect character types, associating outward appearance with inward character.[2] That is an interpretation of the drawing’s expressive language, rather than evidence that it records two identifiable wrongdoers.
The distinction matters because looking at the pen marks can establish some things more securely than others. The profile is emphatic; the figures stand close together; a hand rises between them. Their occupation, conversation and personal history remain unknown. Nothing in the surviving image requires the viewer to give them names or assign them a particular religious or ethnic identity.
The drawing’s force also extends beyond the profile’s exaggeration. The left figure’s slightly open mouth, the compressed space between the heads and the difference in their gazes all contribute to the encounter. Caricature is therefore one useful description of its effect, while Two Men leaves room to notice the quieter decisions that make the exchange convincing.
Turning to Eve and the Tempter
The reverse opens into a much less crowded arrangement. Eve stands at the left with her head turned towards the figure opposite her. Her body is described by light, interrupted outlines, and one arm extends into the space between them. The white paper remains active around her rather than being filled by a robe or a densely worked shadow.
The tempter stands at the right beside a narrow tree. One arm reaches towards Eve with the offered fruit; the other bends back towards the trunk. The legs spread below a slim body. A tail-like extension disrupts the attempt to pass as an ordinary human figure, introducing an instability absent from Eve’s more continuous form.
The exhibition catalogue describes the tempter as an imperfectly human disguise, with the tail making the pose awkward enough to require support from the tree.[2] That reading draws attention to the invention’s bodily mechanics. The figure approaches persuasion through an outstretched arm while another part of its anatomy threatens to upset its balance.
The tree is indicated economically. Its thin trunk rises through the right-hand figure’s space towards foliage at the top edge. It establishes the scene’s setting without becoming an expansive landscape. The encounter remains concentrated upon two bodies, an offered object and the narrow gap across which the offer is made.
A Small Scene of Temptation
The identification as Eve’s temptation supplies the narrative that the men’s conversation lacks. Here the fruit and the hybrid tempter establish an encounter involving an invitation to disobedience. The action is shown through an exchange still unfolding, rather than through a completed act of eating or an expulsion from Paradise.
Eve’s extended arm brings her into the exchange without making the drawing’s moment entirely static. The space between the figures remains visible, so that approach and response can be followed separately. The lightly drawn limbs make the scene seem particularly open, as though the essential action has been caught before its setting or surface was elaborated.
The reverse can be compared with the Fall scenes in Bosch’s larger triptychs, including the Haywain. The BRCP illustrates relevant painted examples beside this drawing.[4] The comparison helps locate the subject within Bosch’s work, but it does not establish that this particular sheet directly prepared one surviving painted passage.
Different Degrees of Finish on One Sheet
The heads on the front hold attention through concentrated marks around eyes, mouths and cloth. The reverse relies on fewer and paler lines. The contrast shows how differently a pen drawing can develop on the two faces of one support. A closely worked face and an abbreviated standing body answer different visual problems.
It would be too simple to turn that difference into a fixed sequence. The more detailed side was not necessarily drawn later, and a lighter outline does not independently prove another artist. Nor do the designations front and reverse tell us which image came first. They provide a way of referring to the object’s two surfaces.
The subjects also need not form a single moral programme. The men’s ambiguous interaction and Eve’s recognised temptation offer different kinds of narrative, but their presence on the same paper does not document an intended pairing for display. The surviving sheet can preserve separate exercises in looking, gesture and invention without requiring a lost commission to unite them.
Why the BRCP Attributes It to Bosch
The BRCP’s argument concerns handling as well as subject. It compares the short, restless marks around the left man’s eyes with Bosch’s painted figures and relates the drawing’s free lines to underdrawings in several paintings. It also compares the raised hand with a hand on the exterior of the Vienna Last Judgement.[4] These are specific attempts to connect the movement of the pen with the artist’s broader practice.
The catalogue distinguishes that approach from simply finding a similar face elsewhere. It considers a proposed comparison with the Ghent Carrying of the Cross insufficient because resemblance in facial shape does not establish a shared technique.[4] The distinction is useful: a memorable nose or chin can recur within a visual tradition without identifying the person who drew it.
The attribution followed here is that of the 2016 publications, rather than a claim that the sheet carries an identifying signature. The Prado’s exhibition guide also names Bosch and gives a date of about 1505–1515.[3] That range is a curatorial dating, not a year written on the paper or established by a documented commission.
Cropping and a Later Border
The BRCP records that the sheet was cut down on every side and that the front’s enclosing border was added later.[4] Its present compactness is therefore partly the result of changes to the object. The frame-like line around the two men should not be treated as proof that Bosch designed the encounter for precisely these surviving dimensions.
Cropping makes the men seem especially close to the viewer. Their garments run into the lower and side edges, while little space remains above the caps. On the reverse, the tree continues towards the upper boundary. The missing paper prevents a secure reconstruction of how far either scene originally extended or whether other studies once stood nearby.
A Private Drawing in Public Exhibitions
The catalogue’s provenance lists Rosenthal, Le Roy Bakus and L. V. Randall before a Sotheby’s London sale on 10 May 1961, followed by a private collection.[4] Those entries trace recorded collecting stages without recovering the sheet’s earliest history. They do not identify its original recipient or explain why the two subjects were placed together.
Both the 2016 Visions of Genius catalogue and the Prado exhibition guide describe the drawing as privately owned, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art named in the courtesy line.[2][3] The Prado guide supplies the loan reference L.1975.38.20. That wording should remain distinct from a museum ownership claim, and it does not establish where the drawing is displayed today.
The surviving object rewards attention at both levels of its making. On the front, a few centimetres contain the pressure of close conversation: eyes, profile, cloth and a lifted hand. On the reverse, much lighter lines establish an offer and a response beneath a tree. Their differences make the whole sheet a particularly compact record of narrative possibilities in pen and ink.
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
No. The front shows Two Men, while the reverse depicts The Temptation of Eve. Both faces belong to the same small sheet.[4]
The BRCP describes cropping on all sides and a later border on the front. The surviving boundaries do not preserve every part of the original sheet.[4]
Discussion
Compare the concentrated meeting of two men with the more lightly drawn temptation on the back.
Reader Insights
How does the raised hand change the apparent exchange between the men?
Compare the dense faces with the much lighter Eve scene on the reverse.
What does the small format contribute to the closeness of the two figures?
Join the Conversation
Share a detail, comparison or question about Two Men and the Temptation of Eve: A Double-Sided Drawing below.
References
- 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
- Ilsink, Koldeweij and de Mooij: Hieronymus Bosch, Visions of Genius, 2016, entry 27, pages 100–101; worklist entry 70 View source.
- Museo Nacional del Prado: Bosch, The 5th Centenary Exhibition, 2016 English exhibition guide, entry 38 View source.
- Bosch Research and Conservation Project: Catalogue Raisonné, 2016, entry 50, pages 550–553 View source.
- Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 2016 exhibition wall texts, p. 3: approximate date of KdZ 549. View source
- Splash image, Hieronymus Bosch, Two Men (recto), about 1505–1515 according to the Prado’s 2016 exhibition guide, pen and grey-brown ink on paper, 13.7 × 10.3 cm. Private collection, recorded in 2016 as courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, L.1975.38.20. View source. View source. View source.
