The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 16, 2026

The Tree Man

c. 1560–1600, first edition printed c. 1715

after Hieronymous Bosch

(Netherlandish, c. 1450–1516)
Netherlands
etching and engraving
Platemark: 20.8 cm (8 3/16 in.); Sheet: 37 x 26.2 cm (14 9/16 x 10 5/16 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2025.139
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

At the bottom of the composition Bosch portrays a painter, an astronomer, and an Aesopian figure (or fableist), practitioners who use illusion to convey the world’s truths, and might be interpreted as Bosch himself.

Description

Hieronymus Bosch is largely considered the first European artist to give free rein to his imagination, as embodied in his depiction of fantastic, often diabolical creatures in the context of the traditional Catholic altarpiece. Based on a drawing by Bosch now at the Albertina Museum, Vienna, this etching of the Tree Man cleverly and uncannily merges anthropomorphic, organic, and man-made elements into a monstrous creature who stands at the center. The creature combines various proverbial subjects that appear throughout Bosch’s oeuvre, such as a ship of fools (denoting collective foolishness), and a cracked egg (a symbol of earthly vanity). Onlookers to the right and below act as witnesses to the folly. In the Christian context within which Bosch made the composition, the figure may broadly be understood as an image of sinful decrepitude. Yet, the Tree Man’s significance cannot be reduced to single, definitive meaning.
  • Georges Laclanché [1838-1882], Paris, France
    his brother, Maurice Laclanché [1847-1921], Paris, France
    his daughter and her husband, Marianne Laclanché [1880-?] and Marcel Lecarrière [1873-?], Paris, France
    their son, Christian Lecarrière [1906-1995], Paris and La Croix-Valmer
    his daughter, Catherine Edou Lacarrière [?-ca. 2015]
    March 29, 2024
    Sold, De Baecque, Paris, France, Friday, March 29, 2024 - 2pm, lot 46
    2024–25
    (Hill-Stone, Inc., New York, NY, sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)
    June 9, 2025–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=The Tree Man|url=false|author=Hieronymous Bosch|year=c. 1560–1600, first edition printed c. 1715|access-date=16 March 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.139