The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych
Sizes
One object, one accession: the Prado holds the triptych as P002823 and it is sold whole. Three sheets, one edition, $399 — the printed images hang level within 0%.
Three panels, one argument. The Prado reads the whole triptych as a single 'concept of sin, which starts in Paradise or Eden on the left panel, with Adam and Eve, and is punished in Hell in the right panel' — Eden, the false Paradise, and the musical Hell, in that order and only in that order. The fountain of the Four Rivers rises whole above Adam and Eve on the left and stands broken in the centre, 'to symbolize its fragility and the ephemeral nature of the delights.' The wings are the height of the centre on the panel itself, 185.8 cm all three, and both tiers here are computed so the printed images hang level as well.
The wings are the same height as the centre on the altarpiece itself (185.8 cm, all three), so each print is sized for the painted images to hang level side by side. Three sheets of one size would look tidy and leave the images about 19% out of line.
Printed on demand as one edition. The whole image is printed on every sheet — never cropped to fit — so each panel carries an archival margin.