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THE ARTWORK
At the heart of the novel is the masterpiece The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things—usually attributed to the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch—completed around 1500. Although its authenticity has been questioned several times, scholars at the Museo del Prado in Madrid, where the painting is on display in a sealed case, still consider the piece to be authentic, and not the work of one of Bosch’s students.
The painting is oil on wooden panels and is presented in a series of circular images. Four small circles, detailing the four last things—Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell—surround a larger circle in which the seven deadly sins are depicted using scenes from life rather than allegorical representations. At the centre of the large circle, which is said to represent the eye of God, is a “pupil” in which Christ can be seen emerging from his tomb. Below this image is a Latin inscription, translated as “Beware, Beware, The Lord Sees.”
Other masterpieces included are: The Haywain Triptych by Hieronymus Bosch (also Museo del Prado); Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy by François Lemoyne (The Wallace Collection, Marylebone); and The Lovers II by René Magritte (MoMA, New York).
