The Surrealists claimed Bosch as a predecessor, seeing in his work the imagery of dream, fantasy, and the subconscious. Laurinda Dixon argues, however, that to understand and appreciate the art of Bosch, we must return to the era in which he lived. Dixon presents Bosch as an artist of his times, knowledgeable about the latest techniques of painting, active in the religious life of his community and conversant with the scientific developments of his day. She draws on popular culture, religious texts and contemporary medicine, astrology, astronomy, and alchemy – now discounted but then of interest to serious thinkers – in order to investigate the underlying meaning of Bosch’s art. Buona lettura!