Focus on this artwork and discuss the Interpretations.
The exact meaning of the painting had not been yet completely understood, although several hypotheses have been made by art historians. What is sure is that the painting was made for a refined élite, whose education allowed them to understand any subtle detail included in it.In the early 20th century, Ludwig interpreted it as a pictorial transcription of the early 14th century French poem Le Pèlerinage de l'Âme ("Pilgrimage of the Soul"), by Guillaume de Deguileville. According to him, the painting represents the ideal path of purification of the soul. The hermit shepherd would be St. Anthony the Abbot, descending from his hermitage in the spiritual path inspired to the first hermit, St. Paul, and overcoming several obstacles including the centaur which waits for him at the end of the staircase. The terrace would represent the Paradise Garden, where the souls in Purgatory, symbolized by the children, wait before they are admitted to heaven. Mary, advocate of the men before God, judges the souls with the help of the crowned Justice coronata. Amongst the children, who are playing with the mystic fruits, the one at the tree would be a soul called to the eternal beatitude.  The two saints standing on the left would be the patrons, perhaps connected to the works' commissioners, while the two behind the parapet would be Peter and Paul, who guard the gate of Paradise. The river in the background would be Lethe, which surrounds Paradise. The animals would represent the hermits' virtue: the mule for the patience, and the sheep for humility.
According to other scholars, the painting would represent a common holy conversation or a vision of the Paradise. Some see Jesus in the children on the cushion, giving to the work the meaning of a meditation about incarnation and redemption.
incarnation Jesus redemption Le Pèlerinage de l'Âme Purgatory St. Anthony the Abbot Guillaume de Deguileville Lethe left holy conversation centaur