Lydgate

This isn't a painting of a dream per se, but Bosch's work in general has a dreamlike flavor. He tends, like many of his contemporaries, to paint religious themes, but he belongs to a tradition of artists before and after him who explore--almost obsessively--the overlapping territory of mystical visions and dreaming. I'm thinking of Pieter Breugel, James Ensor, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, and, more recently, Marcel Dzama, to name just a few. All of these artists works involve fantastical scenes that suggest snaphots of a larger narrative and they often involve hybrid creatures--which we might also think of as the "composite figures" of the dream world.

Bosch was Dutch and lived from 1480 to 1516. He ws from a family of painter, and though his work is eccentric, he was highly successful during his lifetime. His work was owned by royal families all over Europes.

This next image is a view of the triptych with its exterior shut. Notice the apparitional quality of the globe. (I'm also posting some details from the painting below, so you can get a closer look at some of its scences, figures, and fantastical machinery.)