The dating of The Garden of Earthly Delights is uncertain. Baldass (1917) considered the painting to be an early work by Bosch.[57] However since De Tolnay (1937)[58] consensus among 20th-century art historians placed the work in 1503-1504 or even later. Both early and late datings were based on the "archaic" treatment of space.[59] Dendrochronology dates the oak of the panels between the years 1460 and 1466, providing a terminus post quem for the work.[60] Wood used for panel paintings during this period customarily underwent a lengthy period of storage for seasoning purposes, so the age of the oak might be expected to predate the actual date of the painting by several years. Internal evidence, specifically the depiction of a pineapple (a "New World" fruit), suggests that the painting itself postdates Columbus' voyages to the Americas.[60] The dendrochronological research brought Vermet [61] to reconsider an early dating and, consequently, to dispute the presence of any “New World” objects, stressing the presence of African ones instead.[62] He considers De Tolnay's idea of Bosch developing towards more archaism as an anachronism, based on the development of modern art and suggests that the triptych was ordered by Engelbrecht II of Nassau, in or shortly after 1481, when he attended the Chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 's-Hertogenbosch.
The Garden was first documented in 1517, one year after the artist's death, when Antonio de Beatis, a canon from Molfetta, Italy, described the work as part of the decoration in the town palace of the Counts of the House of Nassau in Brussels.[63] The palace was a high-profile location, a house often visited by heads of state and leading court figures. The prominence of the painting has led some to conclude that the work was commissioned, and not "solely … a flight of the imagination".[64] A description of the triptych in 1605 called it the "strawberry painting", because the fruit of the madrone (strawberry tree) features prominently in the center panel. Early Spanish writers referred to the work as La Lujuria ("lust").[59]
The aristocracy of the Burgundian Netherlands, influenced by the humanist movement, were the most likely collectors of Bosch’s paintings, but there are few records of the location of his works in the years immediately following his death.[65] It is probable that the patron of the work was Engelbrecht II of Nassau, who died in 1504, or his successor Henry III of Nassau-Breda, the Stadtholder or governor of several of the Habsburg provinces in the Low Countries. De Beatis wrote in his travel journal that "there are some panels on which bizarre things have been painted. They represent seas, skies, woods, meadows, and many other things, such as people crawling out of a shell, others that bring forth birds, men and women, white and blacks doing all sorts of different activities and poses.[66] Because the triptych was publicly displayed in the palace of the House of Nassau, it was visible to many, and Bosch's reputation and fame quickly spread across Europe. The work’s popularity can be measured by the numerous surviving copies—in oil, engraving and tapestry—commissioned by wealthy patrons, as well as by the number of forgeries in circulation after his death.[67] Most are of the central panel only and do not deviate from the original. These copies were usually painted on a much smaller scale, and they vary considerably in quality. Many were created a generation after Bosch, and some took the form of wall tapestries.[68]
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