Hieronymus Bosch
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- For the fictional LAPD detective, see Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.
Hieronymus Bosch, (also Jeroen Bosch or Jerome Bosch) (c. 1450 – August, 1516) was a prolific Dutch painter of the 15th and 16th centuries. Many of his works depict sin and human moral failings. Bosch used images of demons, half-human animals and machines to evoke fear and confusion to portray the evil of man. The works contain complex, highly original, imaginative, and dense use of symbolic figures and iconography, some of which was obscure even in his own time. He is said to have been an inspiration to the surrealism movement in the 20th century.
His true name was Jheronimus (or Jeroen) van Aken. He signed some of his paintings with Bosch (pronounced as Boss in Dutch), derived from his birthplace 's-Hertogenbosch, a flourishing city in the fifteenth century. In Spanish he is often called El Bosco.
Born to a family of Dutch and German painters, he spent most of his life in 's-Hertogenbosch, a town in the south of today's Netherlands. In 1463, some 4000 houses in the town were destroyed by a catastrophic fire, which the then about 13-year-old Bosch may have witnessed. This might have been a contributing factor to his obsession with Hell. He became a popular painter and even received commissions from abroad. In 1488 he joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady, an arch conservative religious group of some 40 influential citizens of 's-Hertogenbosch and some 7000 'outer-members' from all over Europe.
Style and works
He produced several triptychs, works of three paintings on wooden panels that are attached to each other. Among his most famous is The Garden of Earthly Delights. This triptych depicts paradise with Adam and Eve and many wondrous animals on the left panel, the earthly delights with numerous nude figures and tremendous fruit and birds on the middle panel, and hell with depictions of fantastic punishments of the various types of sinners on the right panel. When the exterior panels are closed the viewer can see, painted in grisaille, God creating the earth.These paintings have a rough surface from the application of paint; this contrasts with the traditional Flemish style of paintings, where the smooth surface attempts to hide the fact that the painting is man-made.
Towards the end of his life, Bosch's style changed and he created paintings with a small number of large figures who appear to almost leave the painting and stand close to the observer. An example is Christ Crowned with Thorns.
Bosch never dated his paintings and may have signed only some of them (other signatures are certainly not his). All in all, about 25 paintings remain today that are attributed to him. Philip II of Spain bought many of Bosch's paintings after the painter's death; as a result, the Prado Museum in Madrid now owns several of his works, including the Garden of Earthly Delights.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder was influenced by Bosch's work and produced several paintings in a similar style, for instance the 1562 work The Triumph of Death.
List of works
- The Garden of Earthly Delights (after 1466) (triptych) in the Prado Museum in Madrid and a copy of the left wing in El Escorial
- The Temptation of St. Anthony in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and another version in the Prado Museum in Madrid (after 1468), both by followers, and the original version (triptych) in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon (after 1501) and numerous other versions by followers
- The Epiphany (The Adoration of the Magi) (1490-1498) in the Prado Museum in Madrid and another version in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia(copy)
- Ecce Homo in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (workshop), and original version in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt (after 1476)
- St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness (after 1495) in the Museo Lazaro Galdian in Madrid forming a couple with: St. John the Evangelist on Patmos'' (after 1490) in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (after 1495)
- The Last Judgement (after 1482) (triptych) in the Academie für Bildenden Künste in Vienna
- St. Jerome at Prayer (after 1482) in the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent
- ''Christ hanging from the cross (after 1483) Brussels
- Christ Crowned with Thorns (after 1530) in El Escorial in Madrid (Bosch-follower)and original version in the National Gallery in London(after 1485)
- ''Last Judgement (after 1486) in Bruges
- a series of four panels in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice Ascent of the Blessed, Terrestrial Paradise, Fall of the Damned, Hell, all dating after 1490
- ''A triptych, now separated that once consisted of (see below) the ship of fools (left panel inside upper part) and allegory of gluttony and lust (left inside bottom), death and the miser (right panel inside) and the wayfarer (outside of both wing panels) all dating after 1494
- Death of the Miser in the National Gallery of Art in Washington
- Allegory of Gluttony and Lust in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven
- The Ship of Fools in the Louvre in Paris
- The Wayfarer in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam
- The Extraction of the Stone of Madness (The Cure of Folly) (after 1500) in the Prado Museum, Madrid
- St. Christopher Carrying the Christ Child (1490–1500) in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam
- The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things (1500–1510) in the Prado Museum in Madrid
- The Marriage Feast at Cana (1500) copy in the Museum Boymans-van Beuningen in Rotterdam(copy)
- Christ Carrying the Cross (1485–1490) in the Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent, a second version in the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna, and a third version in the Palacio Real in Madrid
- Haywain (1500–1515) (triptych) as a copy in El Escorial in Madrid, and another earlier copy in the Prado Museum in Madrid as well
- [The Conjurer] (1500s) in the Musée Municipal in St.-Germain-en-Laye
After Death
There is a children's picture book called Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch, which tells the story of the painter and his girlfriend living in their house with many of Bosch's creature creations coming to life (this drives his girlfriend crazy, who temporarily leaves him).
In a direct reference to Bosch, the villain in the 1983 animated film Twice Upon a Time was named "Synonymous Botch."
References
The music video for Until It Sleeps, off the album Load by Metallica, seems to have been inspired by Bosch paintings, especially Hell.The bloated blue figure in the bottom right hand corner of the Hell triptych, seen seated in a golden chair and consuming a human figure, is prominently featured and easily recognisible in the music video.
Bosch's The Last Judgement is featured in the third book of the Remnants series as a 3D environment derived from the painting.
Bibliography
Jos Koldeweij/Bernard Vermet/Barbera van Kooij: Hieronymus Bosch. New Insights Into His Life and Work, NAi Publishers, Rotterdam 2001, ISBN 90-5662-214-5.See also
External links
- [Hieronymus Bosch at Olga's Gallery]
- [a painting selection of Hieronymus Bosch]
- [Hieronymus Bosch Gallery at ibiblio]
- [Bosch Universe]
- [Hieronymus Bosch Action Figures]
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