The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things by Hieronymus Bosch was painted in oil on panel between 1505 and 1510. The Museo del Prado catalogues this moralizing composition as a work by Bosch; in 2015 the Bosch Research and Conservation Project attributed it to a follower, a view the Prado’s scholars rejected. The painting is now held in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, and is one of the most well-known examples of Bosch’s didactic religious imagery. The composition centers on a large circular motif depicting the personification of Christ as the “Eye of God,” surrounded by seven wedge-shaped scenes, each illustrating one of the Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath, Envy, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth, Lust, and Pride.

Around the central circle are four smaller tondi, each illustrating one of the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. The painting is characterized by its bright, clear colors, meticulous detail, and narrative vignettes, each packed with figures engaged in everyday activities that reveal their moral failings. Latin inscriptions reinforce the didactic intent, warning viewers of divine omniscience and the consequences of sin. The panel’s history is well documented.

It was acquired by King Philip II of Spain in the late sixteenth century and has remained in Spanish royal and national collections since then. It has been exhibited in major retrospectives and is a highlight of the Museo del Prado’s collection, reflecting both the religious anxieties and the inventive visual imagination of the Northern Renaissance.