Engraving
Attributed to Johannes Wierix, 1572.

Transcription of Inscription [Lampsonius]:

HIERONIMO BOSCHIO PICTORI.
Quid sibi vult, Hironyme Boschi,                    
Ille oculus tuus attonitus? quid                        
Pallor in ore?  velut lemures si
Spectra Erebi volitantia coram
Aspiceres?  Tibi Ditis avari
Crediderim patuisse recessus
Tartareasque domos tua quando
Quicquid habet sinus imus Averni
Tam potuit bene pingere dextra.

Translation of Inscription [Lampsonius]:

To Hieronymus Bosch, painter. 
What is meant by that astonished eye of yours, Hieronymus Bosch, or that pallor in your face?  As if you had seen ghosts, the spectres of Erebus, flittering in front of you.  I could believe that the caves of greedy Pluto and the houses of Tartarus lay open to you, seeing as your hand could paint so well whatever the lowest hollows of Avernus ¹ contain.

1. The entry to the underworld in Virgil’s Aeneid.