Jeroen Athoniszoon van Aken was born around 1450 in the town of Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. He would eventually be known as Hieronymus Bosch, a title derived from the name of the town where he lived and painted. Most historians believe he spent the majority of his life in Hertogenbosch, but there is some speculation that he spent a period of time in Vienna. Bosch painted religious themes and was at times branded as a heretic. He was often commissioned to paint elaborate triptychs, such as his most famous work, the Garden of Earthly Delights, which was well received in the court of Phillip II. Along with religious themes, Bosch's work also contains both surrealistic and medieval imagery such as the owl and the toad. Hieronymus Bosch repeatedly painted the owl and toad as symbols of religious...