Hieronymus Bosch

(1450-1516)
Born Jeroen Anthoniszoon Van Aken, Bosch was one of the
most powerful and innovative artists of his time. He was born in the
Netherlandish municipality of s!Herto"enbosch, from which he
derived his name. #his would remain his homestay until his marria"e
to Aleyt $oyaerts ven den %eerveen, who had inherited land from her
wealthy family in the nearby town of &irschot. Not much is known of
his education, but he is thou"ht to have been tau"ht the art of
paintin" by his father or his "randfather. 'or much of his life, Bosch
was part of an ultra!orthodo( reli"ious community called the
Brotherhood of &ur )ady. %any of his works display the rather
e(tremist views of this cult.
Bosch was part of the 'lemish movement of paintin" and
sou"ht inspiration in the works of earlier 'lemish painters such as
Hu"o van der $oes and Hubert van *yck. However, he was definitely
not +ust another one of the pack, his artwork stood far out from all
others. *(treme reli"ious and philosophical symbolism, shown
throu"h a -uite surrealistic lense, made for brilliantly crafted artwork.
Althou"h it has never been substantiated, it has been said that
Bosch incorporated a self!portrait into one of his most famous pieces,
The Garden of Earthly Delights. #his piece is a triptych, therefore
consistin" of three panels. #he left panel depicts .aradise, the central
/and lar"est0 panel, the sins of mankind, and the ri"ht panel, hell. #he
self!portrait is very interestin"ly situated in the center of the ri"ht
panel /Hell0. He has displayed himself as the #ree!man which was
ori"inally portrayed in an earlier sketch entitled Man Tree. 1t seems
-uite stran"e that Bosch, a very reli"ious man, would place himself in
the center of hell. #he whole piece seems to be sayin" that sin is
inescapable, no matter heaven, earth or hell, wherever there is
humanity, there is sin. #herefore, includin" himself within the piece is
acceptin" that he too is a part of humanity and thus is a sinner.
However, there has been countless interpretations of Boschs work
and much of his life and work remains a mystery, an aspect that really
adds to the intri"ue of the fantastical works of Hieronymus Bosch.
'lickin" throu"h pa"es of classic artworks, sure, theyre all
technically brilliant, but 1ve seen it all before...until 1 stumble upon
somethin" that really +umps ri"ht out at me. Hieronymus Bosch.
2omple( ima"inin"s spilled out onto canvas with brilliant accuracy
and technical mastery. &ne piece of his artwork could continuously
entertain and sprout thou"ht for hours on end. 1s this not what art is
all about3
Art Through the Ages: Seventh Edition - Horst de la
Croix and Richard G. Tansey
http://en.i!ipedia.org/i!i/Hierony"us#$osch
.i%i%lio.org/"/paint/auth/%osch/
http://.hierony"us-%osch.org/%iography.ht"l
http://en.i!ipedia.org/i!i/The#Garden#o&#Earthly
#'elights