CHAPTER 5 The Overpainted Patron: Some Considerations about Dating Bosch’s Last Judgment Triptych in Vienna Erwin Pokorny The Picture Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna holds one of the best known and most creative paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and his work- shop, known as the Vienna Last Judgment Triptych (Fig. 5.1).1 This second largest painting attributed to Bosch shows in its open state the Last Judgment on the central panel (163 × 127 cm), flanked by the Paradise on the left wing and Hell on the right (163 × 60 cm each). When closed, the exteriors of the wings pres- ent two male patron saints in grisaille with empty heraldic shields below. The commissioner is unknown. The first certain mention of the Vienna triptych dates from 1659, when it was described in the collection inventory of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614–1662) as an “Original von Hieronimo Bosz.” Even though it is highly likely that the archduke already owned the triptych when he was Governor of the Spanish Nether lands (1647–1656), this is not known for certain. The possibility that he obtained it from the imperial col- lection in Vienna cannot be ruled out, since a Last Judgment by “Hieronymo Boss (Orig.)” is mentioned in the 1621 Prague inventory of the art collection of Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612),2 and also some paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder have been listed in both collections.3 In any case, in 1662 Leopold 1 This article is based on my short contribution for a recent publication of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts edited by Nils Büttner, et al., Hieronymus Bosch in der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Vienna: Akademie der bildenden Künste/Bibliothek der Provinz, 2016), 17–19. 2 Paul Vandenbroeck was the first who suggested that this Last Judgment could have been the Vienna triptych. Paul Vandenbroeck, “Rudolf II als verzamelaar van werk van en naar Jheronimus Bosch,” in Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen (1981), 130 n. 38. See also Tania De Nile, “A new provenance study: the Vienna Last Judgment in 17th cen- tury inventories,” in Jheronimus Bosch, his Life and his Work: the 4th International Jheronimus Bosch Conference, April 14–16, 2016 (‘s-Hertogenbosch: Jheronimus Bosch Art Center, 2016), 70−88. 3 See The Tower of Babel, The Gloomy Day, The Return of the Herd, The Hunters in the Snow, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (inv. 1026, 1837, 1018, 18389), all online under “Pieter Bruegel © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/9789004354��8_006 The Overpainted Patron The Overpainted Figure 5.1 Hieronymus Bosch, Last Judgment Triptych (open state with the wing’s outsides added), oil on oak panels, c. 1485–90, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. 53.