[image] Hieronymus Bosch, The Conjurer - Date unknown. Oil on panel. Original dimensions: 53 x 65 cm. Retrieved from https://excursuses.wordpress.com/2011/06/03/hieronymus-bosch-a-primer/

He who lets himself be fooled by conjuring tricks loses his money and becomes the laughing stock of children." - A Flemish proverb

"The Conjurer, an extraordinary tale of a conjurer trying to persuade the spectator that he's pulling toads or frogs out of his mouth. Meanwhile there's someone standing behind this spectator, who's stealing his wallet. It's a wonderful little painting, we unfortunately don't have the original, but it's a very good copy. It's a secular painting and has got away from the moralising and religious pose which one normally associates with Bosch. This genre painting became very popular in the Netherlands and the north in general, because it was opposed to the mythological painting of Italy. Here you had scenes from everyday life, it was getting away from the porcelain-like saints, down into the street. I think it was very modern.[9]

"Bosch". BBC Documentaries. 3 May 2006. Retrieved 2011-03-07., Bosch and the Delights of Hell [1]