The Wayfarer

This round painting was not born round. Around 1500 it was the outside of a folding altarpiece by Bosch, and later someone sawed it down and joined two halves into this circle, so what you see is a survivor of a larger dismantled work. In the middle a poor, shabby man moves through a bleak countryside, a basket on his back, one shoe and one slipper on his feet. A dog snaps at his heels. Behind him a run-down inn hints at drink and easy company. Ahead a small gate stands for a better road. He has stopped, glancing back, caught in the act of choosing which way to go. Bosch made him deliberately ambiguous, so viewers have argued for centuries whether he is every man deciding his life or the prodigal son turning toward home.