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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 Surrealist movement in the 20th century.
His true name was Jheronimus (or Jeroen) van Aken (meaning "from Aachen"). He signed some of his paintings with Bosch (pronounced as Boss in Dutch), derived from his birthplace 's-Hertogenbosch. 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 flourishing city in fifteenth century Brabant, in the south of the present-day Netherlands. In 1463, some 4000 houses in the town were destroyed by a catastrophic fire, which the then (approximately) 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 archconservative religious group of some 40 influential citizens of 's-Hertogenbosch and some 7000 'outer-members' from all over Europe.
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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. The left panel of this triptych depicts paradise with Adam and Eve and many wondrous animals. The large central panel shows the Garden of Earthly Delights with numerous nude figures and tremendous fruit and birds. The right panel is a vision of Hell with depictions of fantastic punishments of the various types of sinners. 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 acquired 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.
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Tradition within Netherlandish Triptych Painting
Bosch stayed within the norms and tradition of Netherlandish painting and triptych forms in some respects. His calm portrayal of saints in the St. Anthony and Hermit Saints triptychs reflects Bouts’ St. Erasmus triptych and Memling’s panel of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. Agony does not happen with Bosch’s saints, but other triptychs from the same period express them identically.[Minnick, Nathaniel. Hieronymus Bosch’s Triptychs in the Netherlandish Tradition, (University of Michigan, 2005)]
The flat forms of Bosch stray from the intentions of van Eyck, who substantiated figures in the Ghent altarpiece, or van der Weyden’s voluminous forms in the Bladelin altarpiece. Bosch’s treatment of substance is more similar to the flatness that characterizes the art of the Limbourgs.
Bosch also strays with many of his exteriors. The Adoration’s St. Gregory Mass is an unusual and rare theme. The Haywain traveler is a secular image, and the Garden’s pre-creation globe poses simply as “strange”. The latter two permit the narrative to be set up, while still not giving away the lush painting inside.
With artistic license, Bosch painted within confines of theme and symbolism established by Bouts, van Eyck, and van der Weyden. His style differs most importantly in his execution, in that he focuses more on a story, usually with a pessimistic outcome.
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List of works
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Triptychs
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Triptych fragments
A triptych dating after 1494, now separated that once consisted of:
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Paintings
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Hieronymus Bosch drawings|Drawings
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Trivia
George Lucas has cited Bosch as an influence in the creation of several of the extraterrestrial creatures that appear in his Star Wars series of motion pictures.
The movie The Man In The Glass Booth(1975), starring Maximilian Schell, features a print of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, which the main character discusses.
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.
The artwork for the first album by the band Savage Garden features work by Bosch throughout.
A character called Hieronymus Bosch ('Ronny') appears in Tom Holt's book Faust Among Equals, working as an engineer in Hell.
Many of the novels by Michael Connelly feature a main character by the name of Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch, who was named after the painter. In Connelly's 2001 novel, A Darkness More Than Night, the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch play a significant role in the plot.
A hip-hop artist named "Bigg Jus" * has a song on his album "Poor People's Day" called "Illustrations of Hieronymus Bosch... that 1467 sh
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 Janet Fitch's 2006 novel Paint It Black, she references Bosch's work in several chapters as being an influence on the main character's boyfriend.
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Bibliography
Jos Koldeweij/Bernard Vermet/Barbera van Kooij: Hieronymus Bosch. New Insights Into His Life and Work ISBN 90-5662-214-5, NAi Publishers, Rotterdam 2001, ISBN 90-5662-214-5.
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See also
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