Two Male Heads

Two Male Heads features two figures wearing mitres and is believed to be a fragment from a larger painting

There are number of paintings remaining from Bosch's career that were cropped from larger compositions. This would have been done either to save elements of a damaged painting or perhaps that the cropped version was more suitable size-wise or taste-wise to its owner.

At just 14.5 cm (5.7 in) × 12 cm (4.7 in), the dimensions of this painting clearly suggest it to be a fragment. Bosch would not have started off working at this size unless, perhaps, for a quick study sketch. There was a loose date of circa 1480 on this artwork and it is unlikely that we will ever get more accurate than that without some serious scientific investigations, the like of which have been carried out successfully on some of his other work.

Some have not been convinced that this painting came from the hand of Bosch, with it now being attributed to the Circle of Master of the Fountain of Life and dated between 1475 and 1525. It may yet return to his stable in future years, as others have done, but the future is certainly unclear for this particular work.

In some circles this painting has been given the title of Annas and Kajafas which one would assume must be the names of the two men. Again, there is little available documentation to go beyond just laying our the theories as they are today. Whichever is the correct attribution, it remains in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.