Art Gallery

Bosch, Jeroen (1450? - 1516) was one of those rare artists who introduce a new vision to the history of his medium. His phantasmagoric images of Heaven and Hell were conjured out of the visions and myths that swirled and howled in the minds of many Christians poised between the Middle Ages and the Reformation in Northern Europe. These same images seem to have a special relevance to our own century, which has elevated the painter to that pantheon of heroes who faced unflinchingly the human condition. For not only do Bosch's tormented demons prefigure the discovery of the unconscious with its demonic forces, but his portrayal of the destructive power of machines proved a prophesy of our own dilemmas. As a painter who broke down and stepped outside of the established boundaries of his art, he is one of a handful of precursors of the art of our time, with its emphasis on originality of expression.

He was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, and one of the great European painters of his time. The need to decode his symbolic language, which is no longer generally accessible, although it is essential to an understanding of the spirit of the time, often deflects from the great artistic worth of his works. Bosch's training and early work remain largely in the dark. His attention to minute detail, which also characterizes his large triptychs, has led to the assumption that he was trained as miniaturist ("Garden of Delights", the Haywan triptych, several versions, of which one at the Prado, Madrid; "Last Judgement", Vienna, Gallery of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste). There is no proof of this, however. The disturbing world of his paintings, which often scourges the moral decadence and folly of the world, may have been induced by religious unrest before the Reformation. In the course of his development, Bosch increasingly refined his devices until he achieved a distinctive clear outline. This marks him as a contemporary of Leonardo, whose works he may or may not have known.

Bosch was besides Geertgen tot Sint Jans, the great landscape painter in the Netherlands in he 15th and early 16th centuries. He gave the impetus to the development of the "world landscape" - such as by Patinir - and also of the autonomous landscape, such as Pieter Brueghel 's Seasons. It is significant that Bosch, already highly regarded in his lifetime, should have found particular favor with his "morality" pictures in the very place where the 16th century Inquisition had its worst excesses: in Spain.

The descendant of generations of painters who lived far from the centers of art and culture in a small Netherlandish town, where he too painted and died, Bosch displayed a talent that was neither provincial nor naive. His vision was serious, vast in scope and sure of itself, and never without its tinge of mocking and irony. His ghastly fancies were characteristic of the age, visible evidence of the fear of witchcraft and devilry that obsessed his contemporaries. While the subjects he chose to paint were unusual, his grasp of their sources in scripture, mystical texts, and homiletic literature reveal an intellect of uncommon power. A lone wolf and curious personality, it was inevitable that he would be an innovator.

Bosch is most famous for his great altarpieces: The Hay Wain, The Temptations of Saint Anthony, and The Garden of Delights in Madrid; The Temptations of Saint Anthony in Lisbon; and The Last Judgment in Vienna.

From: WebMuseum