To accompany a major exhibition at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Amsterdam, 20 scholars and specialists on the 15th and 16th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch have been invited to contribute essays to this publication. Intended to cater to both a general interest readership as well as to art historians and researchers, the book includes significant new scholarship on the artist. The emphasis here is on objective, fundamental research so that the book will be of lasting relevance in the future, retaining its value amid diverse and evolving perceptions of Bosch and his work. Hieronymus Bosch was unique in creating works of symbolic fantasy using rich forms and colors in a way that makes him the ancestor, 500 years earlier, to the Surrealist painters of the early 20th century. This volume will help make his work accessible to a wide range of readers, as well as considerably advancing the scholarship.