ANTICHIRST IN BETHLEEM? FROM VAN VEIDEN TO BOSCH

In the altarpieces created in the Netherlands in second half of the 15th and in the beginning of the 15th centuries, the Adoration of the Magi often served as the main subject. However, in Hieronymus Bosch's triptych, which is kept in the Prado Museum, it includes many iconographic "anomalies". They arouse the suspicion that there is a "double bottom" hidden in this image. The main clue to its interpretation is the appearance of an ominous character in a red cloak standing at the door of the manger. There are many versions of who this is. The most convincing of them postulates that Bosch introduced into the scene of the Epiphany the figure of the Jewish Messiah — Antichrist himself. He is not to be found in any of the earlier depictions of the Adoration. Nevertheless, we can trace the visual genealogy of this character. This article shows that the group consisting of the Antichrist and of his companions is derived from the group of men standing in the stable doorway in Rogier van der Weyden's Triptych of St. Columba. Bosch introduces the antagonist of the Savior into the joyous scene of the Epiphany and creates one of the most powerful and ominous images of enmity surrounding Jesus. This visual interpretation was unusual, but not unique at the time. In late medieval depictions of the birth and infancy of Christ, we find a certain number of characters that incarnated (Jewish) unbelief. The author analyzes how Bosch constructs his characters and introduces into the image a series of ambivalent details that relate them to each other but make unambiguous identification promblematic if impossible.