Pieter Bruegel the Elder channels the fantastic world of an earlier artist, Hieronymus Bosch, in this visual romp with a moral message. Bosch died in Brabant in 1516 after establishing a reputation all over Europe for his delirious altarpieces in which demons and monsters overrun every day reality. Bruegel was born a decade or so later (the date is uncertain), in the same region of northern Europe. This drawing shows him lay claim to Bosch’s outrageous territory. The bizarre sci-fi architecture and crowds of peasants and demonic beings echo such triptychs by Bosch as The Last Judgment and Temptation of Saint Anthony. But while many artists merely imitated these works, Bruegel is learning and thinking as he forges his own original genius.

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