Blog Archives

Hieronymus Bosch - The Ultimate Vision of Hell

24/2/2016

Since the Noordbrabants Museum exhibition opened on February 13th 2016, there has been an explosion of articles about Hieronymus Bosch. To list them all here would not serve much purpose, but I select those that have something new to offer in this category. A recent article from the BBC by Alastair Sooke on February 19th 2016 I found worth passing on here:

BBC - The ultimate vision of hell

A new exhibition celebrates the work of Hieronymus Bosch, the painter known for his terrifying images of demons and monsters – but has he been misunderstood? Alastair Sooke looks back.

To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of the painter Hieronymus Bosch, the Noordbrabants Museum in his native city of Den Bosch in the Netherlands has organised an extensive exhibition of his work.
It is a spectacular show, featuring 17 of his 24 surviving paintings, as well as six more pictures produced within his workshop. In addition, the exhibition, which has taken nine years to come to fruition, contains 19 of Bosch’s 20 extant drawings.
.........................read MORE

One thing the brilliant Noordbrabants Museum exhibition does not examine, however, is Bosch’s influence upon subsequent Western art and culture. In his own day, Bosch, who married into wealth, was a successful and popular artist who moved within the upper echelons of society. He counted noblemen such as Philip the Fair, Duke of Burgundy, among his patrons, and inspired countless imitators during the 16th Century. Surprisingly, though, given his fame today, his idiosyncratic imagery fell out of favour in the decades following his death. Gradually Bosch’s art started to look old-fashioned. The only European country where he was not forgotten was Spain. In 1593, King Philip II transferred The Garden of Earthly Delights to the monastery, mausoleum and palace he had founded at San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Comments

A Virtual Tour of Hieronymus Bosch's Masterpiece The Garden of Earthly Delights

17/2/2016

Comments

On the website of Open Culture
I was delighted to find this entry from February 8, 2016
Take a Virtual Tour of Hieronymus Bosch’s Bewildering Masterpiece The Garden of Earthly Delights
because it complements perfectly the category of
Hieronymus Bosch
of this blog and adds additional insights into the extensive research already presented here.

Take a Virtual Tour of Hieronymus Bosch’s Bewildering Masterpiece The Garden of Earthly Delights

Art historians have argued about the meaning of The Garden of Earthly Delights--Hieronymus Bosch’s enormously sized, lavishly detailed, and compellingly grotesque late 14th- or early 15th-century triptych—more or less since the painter’s death. What does it really say about the appearance and fall of man on Earth that it seems to depict? How seriously or ironically does it say it? Does it offer us a warning against temptation, or a celebration of temptation? Does it take a religious or anti-religious stance? And what’s with all those creepy animals and bizarre pseudo-sex acts? “In spite of all the ingenious, erudite and in part extremely useful research devoted to the task,” said scholar Erwin Panofsky, “I cannot help feeling that the real secret of his magnificent nightmares and daydreams has still to be disclosed.”

The Open Culture article also links to an incredible
“interactive documentary” of The Garden of Early Delights

the various parts of the painting are explained when you click the description icons as you zoom into the details.

Of course this here blog entry is the short version, and you should really visit the original source for more insights.

Below, find this excellent trailer from Pieter van Huystee Film on Vimeo: