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In the painting, writes Fränger, "Bosch . . . depicted the path of salvation to be found in a religious art of loving . . . and so set up a table of values expressing the idea that Christian faith and a life completely in harmony with Nature could be reconciled with each other." Among his proofs he cites the accompanying scene of Hell, which contains "musicians, gamblers, desecrators of churches, covetous nuns, dissolute priests and murderous knights . . . but not a single adept of carnal love."
Other critics would dispute Fränger's evidence. In the last analysis, whether Bosch was an enthusiastic nature-worshiper or a dour pillar of orthodoxy is a mystery as difficult to interpret as the cracked sphere, the bloated birds or the strange, naked horsemen in his enigmatic paintings.