Bosch
was born in 1450's in s'Hertogenbosch in Holland to a family of
painters by profession for several generations. He signed his
work as Jheronimus Bosch refering to his native place, the woods
(bosch) of the duke (hertog). He lived all his life in s'Hertogenbosch
till his death in 1516.
Bosch's
themes in general remain close to other 15th C. Flemish School
painters, such as van Eyck and van der Weyden: saints, hermits,
the Passion of Christ, Heaven & Hell, sin & punishment.
His depiction of evil sipirits are a product of the Middle Age
fear of witchcraft and devilry. However, his work is unique in
imagination and the complexity of figures. The Garden of Earthly
Delights is one of the most extraordinary and mysterious paintings
in the history of art.
The
left panel is the Third Day on which the Earthly Paradise was
created with Adam and Eve, innocent, but surrounded by a sense
of lurking evil. The middle panel describes mankind's pursuit
of ultimate pleasure and their surrender to joys of the flesh.
On
the right panel, these fallen
creatures are condemned to Hell, which, nevertheless is full of
the
beauty of wickedness; full
of images so striking that they inspired many works of Dali.
Through
his presentation of all that is human as contaminated by an evil
brood and
in his representation of the traditional Christian belief of afterlife
judgement - implying that the price of sin is suffering on earth
- Bosch stands alone as a 16th C. painter. However, his figures
almost predict the movements in painting that were to come several
centuries later.
Homage to Hieronymus Bosch: Eileen Cooper, Paul Gopal-Chowdhury, John
Kiki, Andrea McLean, George Rowlett
