This painting is incredible! It appears so "modern" and "futuristic". How could a medieval painter achieve that? http://www.tuitionplaza.com/tutoring/question.asp?QID=2309

Bosch was also a bit of a lunatic.

Bosch was amazing. He was a visionary artist. The words you use, "modern" and "futuristic" are too limited for this artist.

Never underestimate the intelligence of civilizations past -- they knew things that we have already forgotten. Bosch came from several generations of painters, and he was taught the skill early on. He was also a product of the Middle Ages when the subjects of most artworks were religious and fear of devils and witchcraft was common. Bosch's genius was in that his daemons were not beastly caricatures, but monstrous hybrids of insects, reptiles, chunks of human anatomy and bits of machinery never seen before on any piece of art. Bosch's paintings depict living humans being contaminated by daemons, and in this he expresses a new thought: that maybe sinners experience their Hell while they are living right here on earth.