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Hieronymus Bosch

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For the fictional LAPD detective, see Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.

Hieronymus Bosch, (latinized; also Jeroen Bosch or his real name Jeroen van Aken) (c. 1450 - August 9, 1516) [1] was a prolific Dutch painter of the fifteenth and sixteenth 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.[1] 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 for the surrealist movement in the twentieth century.

Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch; alleged portrait (around 1560)
Born
Jeroen van Aken
NationalityDutch

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.[1] 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. 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

 
Hell, the right panel from the triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights

Bosch 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.[1] 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.

Toward 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.

List of works

Many of Bosch's works have been given multiple names when translated.

Triptychs

Triptych fragments

Paintings

Drawings

Trivia

  • The children's picture book Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch tells the story of the painter and his housekeeper living in their house with many of Bosch's creature creations coming to life. The book is written by Nancy Willard, and illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon and Lee Dillon. It is published by Harcourt Childrens books (1991).
  • The musical fantasy Hieronymus, by T. E. Breitenbach, a painter influenced by Hieronymus Bosch, provides an imaginative glimpse into Bosch's life.
  • Australian rock band Clouds released Hieronymous, written by Jodi Phillis about her inspiration by Bosch's art, as a single and on their debut album Penny Century in 1991 on Red Eye Records. The film clip was directed by Marcelle Lunam.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Hieronymus Bosch - Britannica Concise" (history), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007, webpage: EB.

References

  • 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.
  • Lynda Harris: The Secret Heresy of Hieronymus Bosch, Floris Books, Edinburgh, 1995.
 
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