I love delving into mystical, dark-themed artworks come Halloween season, and, this time around, decided to talk about the painting The Conjurer by Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516). In it, he presents an arresting scene: a street magician, dressed in a scarlet robe and reminiscent of the Magician from the Tarot deck, has gathered a crowd of onlookers and performs a trick using cups and balls. The crowd is engrossed in the proceedings, and while almost everyone fixes their eyes on the ball in the magician’s hand, a person dressed in black and white, and looking towards the sky, has his hand around another man’s purse. The distraction seems to be working, and the theft is almost complete. The thief’s dress suggests that he belongs to a religious order, probably the Dominican order, and Bosch’s aim was likely to point out the hypocrisy of authority figures by suggesting that the friar is working in tandem with the magician to steal.

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