Hieronymus Bosch
Renaissance Painter
Biography
Hieronymus Bosch was a painter born in 1450 in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. He spent most of his time in his hometown but traveled to Italy for a variety of business related things. He was trained from his family of painters but it is though he was quite a private man although he had some measure of fame during his life. He illustrated sinners and demons in many of his works. He was religious and religion was the subject of his pieces. He also has medieval alchemical imagery in his work. A few paintings he has done that include these subjects would include; Garden of Earthly Delights, The Last Judgement and Christ Carrying the Cross. He made money through commissions for his art. He was enrolled in the Brotherhood of Our Lady and spent a great deal of time with them and getting commissions from them. Another one of his well known patrons is Duke Philip the Handsome or Philip the Fair who commissioned The last Judgement. "Isms" related to Bosch would include Humanism, Illusionism, and Classicism. Although his work is religious, Humanism is included because his work touched on human emotion. His work also challenged ordinary religious ideas by going deeper and more detailed. Illusionism is prominent because his work deceived the eye. Lastly, Classicism is included because his work draws some influence from mythology with the creatures he portrays.
Garden of Earthly Delights
Garden of Earthly Delights was painted in 1504 and can currently be found in Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain. The painting is extremely significant to the time because it depicts the start of life to Hell in a very detailed manor. It starts with Adam and Eve and then moves to the birth of the rest of mankind. It shows death and the transformation to nature for the afterlife as well as Hell. The piece is extremely detailed and provides lots of little and big pictures to look at and try to understand. It is an imaginative piece and the fact that Bosch was able to come up with and physically create something so elaborate is incredible. The piece can be quite creepy and gruesome at time with it's different demons and strange images. It is challenging to look at and take in but it tells a story. Humanism is a the main Renaissance ideal that I link with this piece because of how it celebrates not only the human form but human formation. It challenges religion with how it depicts Hell and not Heaven. Also, how it shows man transforming into nature when he dies which is not a typical religious idea. It was a piece that was trying to figure out the universe and saying a lot about the world itself. I find it interesting because of how there is so much to look at and try to decipher and understand. I like his style of painting and the colors he uses as well as the themes within the painting. This is quite an intense painting and there are many articles written on it trying to understand every bit of it although it is ultimately indecipherable.
Citations
"Hieronymus Bosch." International Dictionary of Art and Artists. Gale, 1990. Biography in
Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Hickson, Dr. Sally. "Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights." Khan Academy. Khan Academy, n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/northern/hieronymus-bosch/a/bosch-the-garden-of-earthly-delights>.
Hieronymus Bosch
Garden of Earthly Delights, 1504
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
ARTstor: LESSING_1039490331
Hieronymus Bosch
Triptych of The Last Judgement, 1500
Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Wien, inv. 208
ARTstor: LESSING_1039789082