“The Wayfarer” (“The Pedlar”) by Hieronymus Bosch as an Archetypal Image of an ‘Other-Stranger’

Abstract

One of the most important contemporary experiences of European societies is undoubtedly the migration crisis. The resulting social fears of ‘strangers,’ which have been activated, show how important the archetypical ‘other-stranger’ pattern still is, and that it can be treated as an example of an ‘anthropological constant.’ The aim of the article is to try to look at the painting “The Wayfarer” by Hieronymus Bosch as an illustration of the archetypical ‘other-stranger’ pattern. It seems that such a reading of this work, rich in symbolic content, on the one hand perfectly justifies the thesis of the archetypical sources of contemporary attitudes towards ‘strangers’ and, on the other hand, allows one to better understand and explain the current reactions and behaviors of Europeans. This becomes particularly evident when juxtaposing the image of Hieronymus Bosch with the contemporary media images of migrants.