Hieronymus Bosch (Jeroen van Aken, ca 1450-1516), The Wayfarer, also known as 'The Pedlar' or 'The House of ill Fame', c. 1500
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
De Marskramer

The painting shows on the foreground an emaciated man who is no longer young, dressed in ragged clothes and carrying a wicker basket strapped to his back. Behind him on the left, a ruinous tavern is shown, its dubious nature being signified by the man urinating against the outer wall, and by the embracing couple in the doorway. Another inmate of the house peers curiously through a decrepit window.

In an attitude of hesitation, the wayfarer is glancing towards the tavern with a sad memory of his past affairs which may never return. Except for the snarling dog snapping at his heels and the owl perched on a dead branch above his head, there are no overt symbols of evil, and the man’s path finally leads to a tranquil Dutch countryside behind the shaky gate.