Hieronymus Bosch - medieval artist fashionable even today, in particular, because of his apocalyptic ideas. Fragments of his work called "The Garden of Earthly Delights" can now be seen even on leggings and in children's coloring, and a modern musical group was also named after him. Why?
Some fanatical, if you can call it that, the artist's paintings late medieval were popular for their nightmarish details: a man playing a flute sticking out of his anus, with the help of releasing gases, or a monster bird devouring sinners and defecating them into a pit for sewage, etc. King Philip II of Spain, the patron of the Inquisition, hung one from paintings by Bosch ("The Seven Deadly Sins") in his bedroom. Perhaps she helped him to better tune in to the fight against heretics.
Bosch's most famous painting is the Garden of Earthly Delights triptych. On the left side of the triptych God, Adam and Eve are depicted in paradise, on the central one: the garden of pleasures, on the right side: degradation, sinners, hell.
Despite the fact that the plot of this picture at first glance seems far from childish, a coloring book for children aged 6 years and over was created from its fragments. The Coloring Book Hieronymus Bosch introduces children to amazing landscapes, fantastic fruits and flowers, and the fabulous animals that Bosch painted. According to the author, the coloring book was published to help children develop creatively and inspire them to create own works art in the future.
Also in 1991, the fiction book "Pish Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch" ("Pah, pah, said Hieronymus Bosch") was published. The plot of the book is the story of Bosch's disgruntled housekeeper, who is already fed up with the mess that his wild monsters (winged fish and the like) make around the house.
These two products show that even though Hieronymus Bosch died 500 years ago, the images from his work and his vision seem to be more popular than ever. About all his paintings came out A new book from the world famous TASCHEN publishing house. In 2007, an art center dedicated to his work was opened in Bosch's hometown of 's-Hertogenbosch. Prints of his paintings adorn Doc Martens shoes, T-shirts and sweatshirts, surfboards and skateboards. Why is this happening?
Bosch enjoyed great popularity during his lifetime. He has inspired so many imitators that it is sometimes difficult to determine his original canons. But after all, so much time has passed since then: the days of the counter-reformation, the baroque style ...
"The Catholic Church is reclaiming its position and it would like to emphasize the church, salvation and the saints, which was not exactly what Bosch was focusing on," Larry Silver, an art history professor at Pennsylvania State University, said by phone. "Take Rubens. Then, it simply could not be that both Bosch and Rubens could be in demand at the same time. This is one of the circumstances that put an end to his popularity at that time, it was, as it were, a turn from pessimism to the bright side."
This state of affairs continued until the beginning of the 20th century. Art historians such as Carl Justi did not show much interest in Bosch's painting, in contrast to the founders and theorists of Surrealism, such as, for example, Andre Breton, who began a new wave of interest in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Surrealists and lovers of surrealism appreciated his imagination and "unconscious painting". They were enthusiastic about his ideas against organized religion and bourgeois morality.
Bohemian delight of this kind became a constant presence in the stories of Jerome. There is a thesis, first put forward by Wilhelm Franger in 1947, that Bosch was a member of a cult called the Free Spirit Brothers. In this interpretation, the central part of the garden shows not a world that is slipping into sinfulness, but the enjoyment of the sexual tantric delights of free love, harmony with nature. There is another interesting reference to the Garden of Earthly Delights in The Da Vinci Code, chapter 37.
There is also a version, no less popular than about the sex cult, that Bosch had bad trips from eating moldy rye bread. According to author Walter Bosing, for Bosch it "worked like a miracle cure, helping to compensate for the lack of education and scholarships in higher education and contributing to the creation of canvases that satisfy the sensational appetites of viewers." Next funny example- philosopher, publicist of the 60s Norman Oliver Brown, who combined Freud's theories of anal eroticism with Martin Luther's doctrine of justification by faith, illustrated his work with the Garden of Earthly Delights.
Such interpretations correspond to modern stereotypes about psychedelic paintings an artist with an upset psyche, but for modern experts they are nothing more than jokes, academics only laugh at them. Bosing calls them "scientific nonsense". It is more likely that Bosch was simply an artist completely out of his time, and not a crazy drug addict who attends sectarian orgies and paints them after using LSD.
Either way, now Bosch is a muse to some of the most important creators. Director Guillermo del Toro (films Pan's Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak...) cites Bosch as the inspiration for his famous surreal imagery. The late Alexander McQueen used Jerome-printed fabrics to create his final collection. Best-selling writer Michael Connelly named the protagonist of his most popular detective novel after the painter. Above his desk is a copy of Bosch's Inferno.
Its current popularity comes from the fact that modern people his ideas are close and interesting. To date, films about the apocalypse are on the lists of the most box office films. Among ordinary people, art lovers and artists, not only Jerome's paintings are very popular, but also his style in general, his unique approach to art. The paintings of Hieronymus Bosch equally attract both our compatriots and foreign viewers. Bosch was a very interesting person. His paintings are very multifaceted and ambiguous, they can be understood in different ways. Therefore, it may turn out that his work will not lose its relevance soon, it will live for a very long time after us.
The triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" was made in oil on wood, approximately in 1500 - 1510. Its size: 389 cm. 220 cm. The painting is in the Prado National Museum, in Madrid. 
The painting "Ship of Fools" was made in oil on a board, approximately in 1495 - 1500. Its size: 33 cm. 58 cm. The painting is in the Louvre, in Paris.
The painting "Carrying the Cross" (Ghent) was made in oil on a board, around 1490 - 1500. Its size: 83.5 cm. 77 cm. The painting is in the Museum of Fine Arts, in Ghent.
The painting "Carrying the Cross" (Vienna) was made in oil on a board, approximately in 1515 - 1516. Its size: 32 cm. 57 cm. The painting is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
"Carrying the Cross" (Madrid) - side panel from a triptych that has not survived, made in oil on board, around 1505. Its size: 94 cm. 150 cm. The painting is in the Royal Palace, in Madrid.
The triptych "The Temptation of St. Anthony" was made in oil on wood, around 1505-1506. Its size: 225 cm. 131.5 cm. The painting is in the National Museum of Ancient Art, in Lisbon.
The panel "The Temptation of St. Anthony" is made in oil on wood, not earlier than 1490. Its size: 52.5 cm. 73 cm. It is located in the Prado National Museum, in Madrid.
Painting " Prodigal son» made in oil on board, around 1510. Its diameter: 70 cm. The painting is in the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.
The painting "Seven deadly sins and four last things"made in oil on a board, around 1475 - 1480. Its size: 150 cm x 120 cm. The painting is in the Prado National Museum, in Madrid.
The painting "Saint Christopher" was made in oil on a board, around 1504 - 1505. Its size: 71.5 cm x 113 cm. The painting is in the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.
The Last Judgment triptych was made in oil on wood, around 1504. Its size: 247 cm. 164 cm. The painting is in the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.
The painting "The Crowning with Thorns" (London) was made in oil on a board, approximately in 1508 - 1509. Its size: 59 cm. x 73 cm. The painting is in National Gallery, in London.
The painting "The Crowning with Thorns" (Escorial) was made in oil on board, around 1510. Its size: 195 cm x 165 cm. The painting is located in the Escorial Monastery, in the city of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, in Spain.
The Hay Cart triptych was made in oil on wood, around 1500-1502. Its size: 190 cm. 135 cm. The painting exists in two copies. One is in the Prado National Museum, in Madrid. The second is in the Escorial Monastery, in the city of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, in Spain.
The painting "Extracting the stone of stupidity" was made in oil on a board, around 1475 - 1480. Its size: 35 cm x 48 cm. The painting is in the Prado National Museum, in Madrid.
The Adoration of the Magi triptych was made in oil on wood, around 1510. Its size: 138 cm. 138 cm. The painting is in the Prado National Museum, in Madrid.
(circa 1460-1516)
Hieronymus Bosch (real name - Hieron van Aken) - one of the most talented artists 15th century. The biography of Hieronymus Bosch is not too complicated and confusing. He spent almost his entire life at home - in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch in North Brabant. Hieronymus Bosch began to teach the art of his grandfather and father, professional painters. Then he visited the Dutch cities of Harlem and Delft, where he perfected his art.
Having become a master painter, in 1480 he returned to his homeland, and thanks to his popularity, already in 1481 he married one of the richest brides in the city. From that time on, the artist got the opportunity to work for himself, but he also had to fulfill traditional orders. Gradually, the work of Hieronymus Bosch spread far beyond its borders. hometown: the artist was approached with orders from everywhere, including the kings of France and Spain. Every genius has his own secret, and Bosch is no exception. The secret of Hieronymus Bosch is that he was a schizophrenic.
Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch
Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch are generally undated; now we can only roughly outline the main milestones of his work.
Seven deadly sins
One of his famous early work- painting "Seven deadly sins". In the center of the picture is the figure of Christ, under which is written: "Beware, beware, God sees." Around are images of seven mortal (capable of finally destroying the soul) sins - gluttony, vanity, voluptuousness, anger, laziness, self-interest and envy. Bosch finds an example from life for each of the sins, which is well understood by the viewer: anger illustrated by a scene of a drunken fight: envy appears in the form of a shopkeeper, looking angrily in the direction of a neighbor; greed embodies a judge taking a bribe. It is this picture that shows the death of the most ordinary people;
However, at the edges of the composition there are images of the Last Judgment, Hell, Paradise and Death, as if once again warning people not to commit mortal sins, because they are always followed by retribution.
Carriage of hay
The creation of this painting began in 1500 and lasted about 2 years. At this time, Hieronymus Bosch was already considered a "mature" artist. In the center of the composition is a haystack, around which people are trying to grab at least something from it; most likely, the artist took as a basis the old Dutch proverb "The world is a haystack, and everyone tries to grab as much as he can from it."
The picture is painted on a three-leaved altar, external side surfaces which is described as a symbol of earthly life - a wandering ragged wanderer, who notices all sorts of (both minor and larger) troubles and manifestations of evil on his way.
An angry dog growls at him, a passerby is robbed, an execution is carried out on a hill, and black crows are circling over the carrion, but, despite all this, a couple of peasants are dancing to the bagpipes.
In a more expanded form, the image of the sinful world is shown by the open altar - here Hieronymus Bosch depicts not a small part, but the whole path earth history, starting with the rebellion of Satan against God (the scene of the battle in heaven and the overthrow of the rebels), ending with the end of the earthly world.
In the center of the triptych is the earthly world, which personifies a huge cart of hay, which means the short-lived temptations of the world: power, wealth, pleasures, and the like.
In the painting "The Seven Deadly Sins", Hieronymus Bosch expanded the proverb by depicting the harmonious peace of nature in the background, in the sky above which the lonely figure of Christ peeps.
Garden of Delights
At the beginning of the 16th century, Hieronymus Bosch created the "Garden of Delights" - the most famous and mysterious painting. The very traditional stories of the creation of the world, Hell and Paradise, were taken as the basis of the picture, but on the whole the composition turned into something very original. It is located on a three-leaved altar, on the outer surface of the wings of which the Earth is depicted in the form of a transparent sphere on the 3rd day of its creation. The inner left part of the altar wings continues the theme of the creation of the world (4-7 days of creation). On the right side of the wings, Hell is depicted, in the center of which is a “tree of death” growing from a frozen lake. In the center of the painting “The Garden of Delights”, Bosch depicted the so-called “garden of love”, along which many couples in love stroll. The garden shines with its beauty - naked men and women swim in stunning ponds, ride various animals (panthers, deer, griffins).
Hieronymus Bosch is the most mysterious artist of all time. His paintings are still trying to decipher. But we will not come close to their complete solution.
Because Bosch spoke several languages. In the language of religious symbolism. In the language of the alchemists. Also Dutch proverbs. And even astrology.
It's hard not to get confused. But thanks to this, interest in Bosch will never dry up. Here are just a few of his masterpieces, which are so captivating with their mystery.
1. Garden of earthly delights. 1505-1510
Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. 1505-1510 Prado Museum, Madrid. wikimedia.commons.org The Garden of Earthly Delights is Bosch's most famous work. It can be viewed for hours. But so nothing to understand. Why all these naked people? Giant berries. Weird fountains. Outlandish monsters.
In a nutshell. Paradise is depicted on the left wing. God just created Adam and Eve. But Bosch's paradise is not so heavenly. Here we see Evil. A cat drags a mouse in its teeth. And nearby, a bird is pecking at a frog.
Why? Animals can do evil. This is their way of survival. But for a man this is a sin.
Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. Fragment of the left wing of the triptych. 1505-1510 Prado Museum, Madrid In the middle part of the triptych, many naked people lead an idle lifestyle. They care only about earthly pleasures. The symbols of which are giant berries and birds.
People indulge in the sin of voluptuousness. But conditionally. We understand this through symbols. You will not find explicit erotica. Only one pair does not look very decent. Try to find her.
If it doesn't work, find it. close-up in the article.
But did you know that a copy of the central part of the famous triptych is stored in it? Created 50 years later by a follower of Bosch. The postures and gestures are the same. Only Mannerist people. With beautiful torsos and languid faces.
Bosch's characters are more flat and bloodless. Like blanks, blanks of people. And why write real people if their life is empty, aimless.
Top: Follower of Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. Fragment. 1556-1568 , Saint Petersburg. Below: Hieronymus Bosch. The central part of the triptych. 1505-1510 Prado Museum, Madrid
On right wing we see Hell. Here are those who were fond of idle music or gluttony. Gamblers and drunkards. Proud and miserly.
But even here there are no less mysteries. Why are we meeting Eve here? She sits under the chair of a bird-headed monster. What kind of notes are depicted on the backside of one of the sinners? And why did poor musicians end up in Hell?
2. Ship of fools. 1495-1500
Hieronymus Bosch. Ship of fools. 1495-1500 . wikimedia.commons.org Painting “Ship of Fools”. Why a ship? A common metaphor in Bosch's time. This is what they said about the Church. She must “carry” her parishioners through worldly fuss to spiritual purity.
But something is wrong with Bosch's ship. Its passengers indulge in empty fun. They bawl, they drink. Both monks and laity. They don't even notice that their ship isn't sailing anywhere. And so long ago that a tree sprouted through the bottom.
Pay attention to the jester. A fool by profession behaves more seriously than others. He turned away from the merry and drinks his compote. Without him, there are enough fools on this ship.
“Ship of Fools” is the upper part of the right wing of the triptych. The lower part is stored in another country. On it we see the coast. The bathers threw off their clothes and surrounded the barrel of wine.
Two of them swam to the ship of fools. Look, one of them has the same bowl as the bather next to the barrel.
Hieronymus Bosch. Allegory of gluttony and lust. 1500 Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA. 3. Temptation of St. Anthony. 1505-1506
. 1500 National Museum of Old Art in Lisbon, Portugal. wikimedia.commons.org Temptation of Saint Anthony. Another fantastic Bosch triptych. Among the heap of monsters and monsters - four stories from the life of a hermit.
First, demons torment the saint in heaven. Satan sent them. It haunted him that he was struggling with earthly temptations.
The demons threw the tormented saint to the ground. We see how his exhausted lead under the arms.
In the central part, the saint is already kneeling among the mysterious characters. It is the alchemists who are trying to make him the elixir of eternal life. As we know, nothing came of them.
Hieronymus Bosch. Temptation of Saint Anthony. Fragment of the central part of the triptych. 1500 National Museum of Old Art in Lisbon, Portugal And on the right wing, Satan made another attempt to seduce the saint from his righteous path. Coming to him in the form of a beautiful queen. To seduce him. But even here the saint resisted.
The triptych “The Temptation of St. Anthony” is interesting for its monsters. From such a variety of unknown creatures, the eyes run wide.
And sheep-headed monsters with the body of a plucked goose. And half-humans, half-trees with fish tails. Bosch's most famous monster also lives here. An absurd creature with a funnel and a bird's beak.
Hieronymus Bosch. Fragment of the left wing of the triptych "The Temptation of St. Anthony". 1500 National Museum of Old Art in Lisbon, Portugal You can admire these entities in detail in the article.
Bosch liked to portray St. Anthony. In 2016, another painting with this saint was recognized as the work of Bosch.
Yes, the little monsters look like Bosch's. There is nothing wrong with them. But fantasy is more than enough. And a funnel on the legs. And a scoop nose. And a walking fish.
Hieronymus Bosch. Temptation of Saint Anthony. 1500-1510 Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, USA. wikimedia.commons.org 4. Prodigal son. 1500
Hieronymus Bosch. Prodigal son. 1500 Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. wikimedia.commons.org In the picture "Prodigal Son" instead of a huge number of characters - one main character. Wayfarer.
He's pretty beat up with life. But he has hope. Leaving the world of debauchery and sin, he wants to return home to his father. In the world of righteous life and spiritual grace.
He looks back at the house. Which is an allegory for a dissolute lifestyle. Tavern or inn. Temporary shelter full of primitive amusements.
The roof has leaked. The shutter is warped. A visitor urinates right around the corner. And two have mercy in the doorway. All this symbolizes spiritual degradation.
Hieronymus Bosch. Prodigal son. Fragment. 1500 Boijmans-Van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands But our traveler has already woken up. He realized that he needed to leave. A woman is looking at him from the window. She doesn't understand what he's doing. Or jealous. She does not have the strength and ability to leave this “leaky”, miserable world.
The "prodigal son" is like another traveller. Which is depicted on the closed doors of the triptych "Who hay".
Hieronymus Bosch. Wanderer. Closed sashes triptych "Wagon of the Seine". 1516 Prado Museum, Madrid Here the meaning is similar. We are travelers. On our way there is much to rejoice. But there are also many dangers. Where are we going? And will we get somewhere? Or will we wander like this until death overtakes us on the road?
5. Carrying the Cross 1515-1516
Hieronymus Bosch. Carrying the cross. 1515-1516 Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium. wga.hu An unexpected job for Bosch. Instead of distant horizons and many characters - a very close approximation. Foreground only. The faces are so close to us that you can even feel an attack of claustrophobia.
There are no more monsters. The people themselves are ugly. All their vices are read on their faces. Gloat. condemnation of another. Soul deafness. Aggression.
Note that only three characters have normal traits. Repentant thief in the upper right corner. Christ Himself. And Saint Veronica in the lower left corner.
Hieronymus Bosch. Carrying the cross. Fragment. 1515-1516 Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent, Belgium. wikipedia.org They closed their eyes. Having renounced this world, which is filled with a screaming and angry crowd. Only the thief and Christ go to the right, towards death. And Veronica to the left, in the direction of life.
On the handkerchief of Veronica appeared the image of Christ. He looks at us. Sad calm eyes. What does he want to tell us? Did we see ourselves in this crowd? Are we ready to become human? Freed from aggression and judgment.
Bosch was an artist. Yes, he was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
Therefore, its main character is a man. Which he considered from all points of view. And from afar. Like in The Garden of Earthly Delights. And very close. Like in Carrying the Cross.
His verdict is not comforting. People are mired in vices. But there is hope. Hope that each of us will find a way to salvation. The main thing is to look at yourself from the outside in time.
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Art historians confidently attribute only 25 paintings and 8 drawings to the surviving heritage of Hieronymus Bosch. There are many fakes and copies.
The main masterpieces of Bosch, which provided him with posthumous fame, are large altar triptychs. Parts of the triptychs have also survived to our time.
After Bosch, many artists in painting created canvases based on the subjects of his paintings (for example, “The Temptation of St. Anthony”).
Hieronymus Bosch was born in Netherlands in the city 's-Hertogenbosch around 1450.
His the present name - Jeroen Antonison van Aken. The artists were Bosch's grandfather, Jan van Aken, and four of his five sons, including Jerome's father, Anthony.
Jerome took pseudonym by the abbreviated name of his hometown (Den Bosch), apparently out of the need to somehow separate himself from other representatives of his kind.Bosch lived and worked mainly in his native 's-Hertogenbosch. There he joined the religious society Brotherhood of Our Lady.
Around 1480 the painter marries on Aleith Goyart van der Meerveen. She came from a noble 's-Hertogensbos family. Thanks to her money Bosch is on a par with richest the people of their hometown. After death, the entire fortune of Aleith Goyarts passed to her husband. They didn't have children.
For the Netherlands at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, hard, rough times. In the country she ruled like at home, ferocious Spanish Inquisition; later, under Philip II, the terrorist regime of the Duke of Alba was established. Gallows were erected everywhere, entire villages were on fire, bloody feasts were completed by an epidemic of plague. Desperate people clutched at ghosts - appeared mystical teachings, savage sects, witchcraft for which the church persecuted and executed even more. For a whole century, indignation boiled in the Netherlands, which then turned into a revolution. This was the era memorably described by de Coster in "The Legend of Thiel Ulenspiegel".
Netherlands and Italy in the 15th century determined the development path Western European art, but these paths were different: Italy sought to break with the traditions of the Middle Ages, the Netherlands preferred the path of evolutionary transformations. In Italy, the revolution in the field of culture received name of the renaissance because he relied on ancient heritage. In Northern Europe it is referred to as "new art". When you look at the paintings of Bosch, you can hardly believe that he was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael. Bosch did not use the method of working from nature, was not interested in the problems of accurate representation human body(anatomy, proportions, angles), as well as the construction of a mathematically verified perspective. The painters of Northern Europe were still inclined to isolate the human figure from its environment, every figure and every object was supposed to be interpreted as a certain symbol. The main thing for Bosch was the content of his works, expression, emotional expressiveness.
Unlike other Dutch masters, Hieronymus Bosch focused on depicting not the righteous and Paradise - Heavenly Jerusalem, but the sinful inhabitants of the earth. Some of his works ("Hay Carriage", "Garden of Earthly Delights", "Seven Deadly Sins", "The Temptation of St. Anthony" and a number of others) have no analogues either in contemporary art or in the art of the previous time.
Bosch created a special world of images, where evil and suffering reign. This world, inhabited by sinners, disgusting monsters, demons, appears before us as the "Kingdom of Antichrist", "New Babylon", deserving destruction and death.
Bosch is an atypical artist in the panorama Dutch painting and the only one of its kind in European painting of the 15th century.
Previously it was thought that "devilry" in the paintings of Bosch, it is intended only to amuse the audience, tickle their nerves, like those grotesque figures that the masters of the Italian Renaissance wove into their ornaments. Modern scientists have come to the conclusion that Bosch's work has a much deeper meaning, and have made many attempts to explain its meaning, find its origins, and give it an interpretation. Some consider Bosch to be something like Surrealist of the 15th century, who extracted his unprecedented images from the depths of the subconscious, and, calling his name, they invariably remember Salvador Dali. Others believe that Bosch's art reflects medieval "esoteric disciplines" - alchemy, astrology, black magic.
Most of the plots of Bosch's paintings are connected with episodes from the life of Christ or saints who resist vice, or are gleaned from allegories and proverbs about human greed and stupidity.
His technique called "a la prima". This is the method oil painting, in which the first strokes create the final texture.
Most complete collection works of the artist are kept in the museum Prado.
Bosch's reviews literature XVI V. quite few, and the authors pay their attention primarily to the presence in his paintings of various monsters and demons, to the incredible combination of parts of the human body, plants and animals, called by one Venetian "evil spirits".
For Bosch's contemporaries, his paintings had much more meaning than for the modern viewer. Necessary explanations for the plots medieval man received from a variety of symbols that abound in Bosch's paintings.
A significant number of Bosch's symbols are alchemical. The alchemical stages of transformation are encrypted in color transitions; jagged towers, trees hollow inside, fires, being symbols of Hell, at the same time allude to fire in the experiments of alchemists; a hermetic vessel or a melting furnace are also emblems of black magic and the devil.
Bosch uses and generally accepted in the Middle Ages symbolism of the bestiary- "unclean" animals: in his paintings meet camel, hare, pig, horse, stork and many others. Toad, in alchemy, denoting sulfur, it is a symbol of the devil and death, like everything dry - trees, animal skeletons.
Other common characters:
inverted funnel - attribute fraud or false wisdom;
owl- in Christian paintings it can be interpreted not in the ancient mythological sense (as a symbol of wisdom). Bosch depicted an owl in many of his paintings, he sometimes brought it in contexts to persons who behaved insidiously or indulged in mortal sin. Therefore, it is generally accepted that the owl serves evil as a night bird and predator and symbolizes stupidity, spiritual blindness and ruthlessness of everything earthly.
Bosch's painting style is many copied as soon as it turned out that this guaranteed a profitable sale of paintings. Bosch himself oversaw the production of copies of some of his works,
The central part of the triptych "The Temptation of St. Anthony". National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon
In the central part of the triptych, the space is literally teeming with fantastic implausible characters. White bird turned into a real winged ship plowing the sky.
Central stage - making black mass. Here, exquisitely dressed female priests celebrate a blasphemous service, they are surrounded by a motley crowd: after a cripple, a mandolin player in a black cloak with a boar's snout hurries to the impious communion and owl on the head (the owl here is a symbol of heresy).
From a huge red fruit(an indication of the phase of the alchemical process) a group of monsters appears, led by a demon playing a harp - a clear parody of an angelic concert. The bearded man in the top hat, depicted in the background, is considered warlock, who leads the crowd of demons and controls their actions. And the demon-musician saddled a strange suspicious creature, resembling a huge plucked bird, shod in wooden shoes.
The lower part of the composition is occupied by strange ships. Floats to the sound of the demon's singing headless duck, another demon peeps out of the window in place of the duck's neck.
Another of Bosch's most famous paintings is part of a triptych called The Ship of Fools. The picture was the upper part of the fold of a triptych that has not survived, the lower fragment of which is now considered to be the Allegory of Gluttony and Lust.
The ship traditionally symbolized the Church, leading the souls of believers to the heavenly pier. In Bosch, a monk and two nuns are wandering along with the peasants on a ship - a clear hint of a decline in morals both in the Church and among the laity. The waving pink flag depicts not a Christian cross, but a Muslim crescent, and an owl peeps out of the thick foliage. The nun plays the lute and both sing, or maybe they are trying to grab a pancake hanging on a cord with their mouth, which is set in motion by a person with his hand raised up. The lute, depicted on the canvas as a white instrument with a round hole in the middle, symbolizes the vagina, and playing on it means debauchery (in the language of symbols, the bagpipe was considered the male equivalent of the lute). The sin of voluptuousness is also symbolized by traditional attributes - a dish of cherries and a metal jug of wine hanging overboard. The sin of gluttony is unambiguously represented by the characters of a merry feast, one of whom reaches with a knife for a roast goose tied to a mast; another in a fit of vomiting hung overboard, and the third is rowing with a giant scoop like an oar. The monk and the nun sing songs with rapture, not knowing that the Ship of the Church has turned into its antipode - the Ship of Evil, without a rudder and sails, dragging souls to Hell. The ship is an outlandish structure: its mast is a living, leaf-covered tree, a broken branch is its rudder. Opinions have been expressed that the mast in the form of a tree corresponds to the so-called maypole, around which folk festivities take place in honor of the arrival of spring - the time of the year when both the laity and the clergy tend to transgress moral prohibitions.
Bosch's works are not in the Hermitage, but there is a small painting "Hell" * of the beginning of the 16th century - the work of an unknown follower of the great artist.
In the middle of the 16th century, decades after Bosch's death, a broad movement began to revive the bizarre creations of the fantasy of the Dutch painter. This hobby lasted for several decades. Success engravings made by motives of Bosch's "evil spirits", immediately brought to life all sorts of imitations and replicas (up to deliberate fakes). All these images were at least partially sustained in the spirit of Bosch - with an abundance of wonderful and monstrous creatures. Of particular success were engravings illustrating proverbs and scenes from folk life. Even Pieter Brueghel deliberately used Bosch's name in commercial purposes, "signing" engravings made based on the master's drawings, which immediately increased their value.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The Seven Deadly Sins.
It is difficult to judge how much the artist was understood by his contemporaries. It is only known that during the life of Bosch, his works were widely popular.
The greatest interest in the artist's work was shown in Spain and Portugal. There were the largest collections of his paintings. The fantastic, terrible scenes of Bosch's paintings were close and interesting to the Spanish audience, full of religious feelings.
IN last years life artist drawn exclusively to stories about Christ("Adoration of the Magi", "Crowning with Thorns", "Carrying the Cross"). In them, he avoids depicting the fantastic monsters of the underworld, but the real images of executioners and witnesses of the tragedy that came to replace them - malicious or indifferent, cruel or envious - are much more terrible than Bosch's fantasies. In the painting “Christ Carrying the Cross”, Christ, as if unable to look at this raging bacchanalia of evil, is depicted with eyes closed. It was last work Bosch.
Carrying the cross. 1490-1500. Museum of Fine Arts. Ghent
Especially many mysteries to this day are fraught with another Bosch triptych - "The Garden of Earthly Delights"(About 1510-1515), in which the artist appears fully armed with his skill. Indeed, nothing works better for an artist than countless monsters.
"The Garden of Earthly Delights" Hieronymus Bosch's most famous triptych
Fragment of the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights". Prado. Madrid
The central part of the triptych is a panorama of the fantastic "garden of love" inhabited by many naked figures of men and women, unprecedented animals, birds and plants. Lovers shamelessly betray love pleasures in the reservoirs, in incredible crystal structures, are hidden under the peel of huge fruits or in shell valves. Magnificent in painting, the picture resembles a bright carpet woven from radiant and delicate colors. But this beautiful vision is deceptive, for behind it hide sins and vices presented by the artist in the form of numerous symbols, borrowed from popular beliefs, mystical literature and alchemy. In the picture » depicts strange birds: very realistic, but incredible, gigantic creatures, against which swarm tiny naked men. Although there seems to be nothing terrible in the image of these birds, they make a terrible impression. It is enhanced by the view of the huge red berry, brought in the beak of one of the birds.
Or the so-called melancholy monster: the "legs" are made of tree trunks, and the "body" is a punctured egg. In the gaping hole, as in a dark abyss, a tavern is visible, filled with drinking and chewing people. You can spend hours looking at what each of the figures idly having fun inside is doing. And moving away, you notice that the egg-shaped creature has its own “face” - a mask frozen in patient expectation, which seems to be ready to absorb this little world inside it at any moment.
One Spanish monk was the first to try to decipher this work in 1605. He believed that it gave a collective image of the earthly life of a person who was mired in sinful pleasures and who forgot about the primordial beauty of the lost paradise and therefore was doomed to death in hell.
Extraction of the stone of stupidity. 1475-1480. Prado. Madrid
Only one of Bosch's paintings was brought from the Prado Museum to Emtage "Retrieving the Stone of Stupidity" ("Operation Stupidity"). This picture represents the folklore line in the artist's work. At first glance, this depicts a common, albeit dangerous, operation that the surgeon for some reason performs under open sky, putting on his head funnel(here it most likely serves as a symbol of deception). According to another version, closed book on the head of a nun and a surgeon's funnel, respectively, symbolize that knowledge is useless when dealing with stupidity, and that healing of this kind is quackery. The inscription above and below reads: « Master, remove the stone. My name is Lubbert Das». In Bosch's time, there was a belief that a madman could be cured by removing the stones of stupidity from his head. Lubbert is a common noun, denoting an imbecile. In the picture, contrary to expectations, not a stone is removed, but a flower, another flower lies on the table. It has been established that this tulips, and in medieval symbolism, the tulip meant foolish credulity.
WashingtonArtist's grave, located in his hometown in the aisle of the church of St. John painted by him, after centuries added to the list of secrets associated with his name . During archaeological work in the temple, it turned out that the burial was empty. Hans Gaalfe, who led the excavations in 1977, told reporters that he came across a flat stone that did not look like ordinary granite or marble, from which tombstones were made. Studies of the material led to an unexpected result: a fragment of the stone, placed under a microscope, began to glow faintly, and the temperature of its surface suddenly increased by more than three degrees. Despite the fact that no external influence was made on him.
Church intervened into research and demanded an urgent end to the abuse: since then Bosch's grave in the Cathedral of St. John is inviolable. The name of the artist and the years of his life are only engraved on it: 1450-1516. And above the grave is a fresco of his hand: a crucifix illuminated by a strange greenish light.
Still, it's best to judge Bosch by his work. They are indeed full of mysteries: their inhabited by myriads of fantastic creatures, as if born on other planets or in parallel worlds. The fog covering the life of the great painter has provoked a considerable amount of literary and historical speculation in our time. He was ranked among the sorcerers and magicians, heretics and alchemists engaged in the search for the philosopher's stone, and even accused of colluding with himself. Satan, who in exchange for an immortal soul gave him a special talent to look into other worlds and skillfully depict them on canvas.
A special place in his work is occupied by End of the world: a plot in which his contemporaries did not just believe - they were waiting for him. Nevertheless, on the canvases of Bosch, he is strikingly far from church dogma. So, in one of the cathedrals of 's-Hertogenbosch, painted by Bosch, preserved mysterious fresco: Crowds of the righteous and sinners, stretching their hands up, are watching a green cone rapidly approaching them with a bright white ball of light inside. Dazzling white rays are especially noticeable against the backdrop of darkness that has gripped the world. A strange figure looms in the center of this ball: if you look closely at it, you can see that it has not quite human proportions and is devoid of clothes. Many modern researchers, including the Dutch professor of history and iconography Edmund Van Hoosse, consider the fresco to be evidence that Bosch may have personally observed the approach of foreign technology to our planet with representatives of other worlds on board.
Others go even further. They believe that the artist himself was an alien from the galactic depths and simply described on the canvas what he saw while traveling through the vast universe (something similar, by the way, they say about Leonardo da Vinci). For some reason, he lingered on Earth and left us a pictorial evidence that is not inferior to modern cinematic masterpieces such as Star Wars ...
Hieronymus van Aken, who called himself Bosch, is considered one of the most mysterious masters painting. Researchers of the artist's paintings, giving him the most opposite characteristics, considered him either a religious fanatic, or a heretic who doubted everything, or a severe ascetic, or a lover of life, or an obsessed science fiction writer, or a sober researcher of reality. And no wonder: determine true character the artist is very difficult due to the extreme limited biographical information about him. Even the date of Bosch's birth is determined around 1450.
Bosch came from a family of hereditary Dutch artisans and artists.
Several generations of the van Akens built and decorated the cathedral of their hometown of 's-Hertogenbosch. A thriving trading town was located at the intersection of various cultural trends. South of 's-Hertogenbosch reigned light art the founders of the Dutch Renaissance Masters from Flemal and Jan van Eyck, carrying new ideas about nature and man, while to the north it is more provincial, close to the Middle Ages. It is assumed that Hieronymus van Aken studied painting in the north in Haarlem or Delft, but was also well acquainted with the discoveries of the great innovators of Flanders and Brabant.
By marrying a girl from the local nobility, Bosch, along with material security, received a certain freedom of creativity.
In addition, Bosch gained the ability to freely satisfy his constant interest in various fields of knowledge. Manifestations of this can be seen in all his works, where, as in the science of that time, the inquisitiveness of serious research coexists with the mysticism of astrology and alchemy. It is precisely the intermediate position between the aristocracy and the artisans, between learned doctors and the uneducated but accomplished age-old wisdom a people whose traditions entered into his flesh and blood, made Bosch the most versatile painter in the Netherlands. And the most difficult. The fantasticness of the master's creations formed an aura of mystery that surrounded him during his lifetime and increased after his death.
Since Bosch did not leave a single dated work, the beginning of his work is attributed to approximately the mid-seventies of the 15th century.
Heroes early paintings wandering magicians, comedians, doctors-charlatans. Without them, at the time of the painter, not a single fair, not a single national holiday could do. In the edifying plot of the Seven Deadly Sins, the author not so much exposes as admires the living immediacy of condemned sinners. While even at major representatives Italian Renaissance, scenes real life still largely remain part of traditional church plots, with Bosch they acquire compositional independence in The Magician and Operation Stupidity. It opens up the attractiveness of an independent everyday genre for European art.
pinnacle of painting early period in the work of Bosch, the famous "Ship of Fools" is considered, where, behind the irony of chicanery and stupidity, there is an artistic generalization of many life issues. They excited such thinkers of the era as Erasmus of Rotterdam and Sebastian Brant (the author of the satirical poem). The passengers of the fantastic ship, sailing to the land of Glupland, personify human vices. It is no coincidence that the center of the picture is a monk and a nun, whose attention is by no means occupied by prayers. Skeptical and daring mockery of the hypocrisy of the clergy is noticeable in many of Bosch's paintings. Something else is also characteristic: the grotesque ugliness of the characters is embodied by the author in shining colors. Bosch is both real and symbolic. By itself, the world created in the artist's paintings is beautiful, but stupidity and evil reign in it.
In his mature years, Bosch performed frescoes for the city's St. John's Cathedral.
The artist was a member of the religious Brotherhood of the Virgin, one of the semi-legal heretical sects that spread widely across Europe. Despite the repressions of the clergy and the curses of the Pope, sectarian heretics questioned many provisions of the medieval worldview, advocating their moral and ideological renewal. Subsequently, this movement led to a church reformation in Europe, accompanied by long wars. Gradually, the theme of the Last Judgment becomes the main one in Bosch's painting. In complex reflections on the causes of good and evil, the master addressed her at least ten times.
Bosch's famous altarpiece "The Hay Cart" is a detailed illustration of the Dutch folk saying "The world is a hay cart, and everyone tries to snatch as much as they can from it." In pursuit of worldly blessings - wealth, power, fame, love, embodied in the image of a giant cart of hay, the painter's entire humanity is drawn into a cruel and tragic struggle, from which no one comes out alive. At the head of a crazy crowd of people chasing, crushing, killing each other, the emperor and the pope are depicted. The action, however, takes place against the background of a beautiful, majestic landscape, whose eternal calm is opposed to transient worldly passions.
In the depiction of paradise and, especially, the underworld on the side wings of the altar triptychs, the richness of Bosch's imagination, as well as knowledge in the field of the diversity of natural forms, was manifested. His hell in a wagon of hay is endowed with signs of the surrounding everyday life. It looks like a giant construction site. In another altar triptych, the Last Judgment, hell, depicted on the right wing, is more like a colossal kitchen. Fantastically ugly devils are busily wielding ordinary objects - skewers, ladles, frying pans, pots and other household utensils. And in the next triptych, musical instruments serve as instruments of torture for sinners. In the guise of hellish builders, cooks or musicians, it would seem that everything most incompatible is mixed up. Medieval masters before presented in their works a combination of dissimilar parts, animals and birds to create awesome chimera monsters. But no one had yet imagined such a mixture of human flesh, fish scales, bird feathers, claws and animal hair, the juxtaposition of the organic with the inorganic, the inanimate with the living, before Bosch's painting.
The reliability of science fiction was born in Bosch not only from a careful study of diverse natural phenomena, but from a deep knowledge of life.
The artist was sensitive to the historical upheavals of the surrounding reality, full of conflicts and contradictions, which led to tragic character his works. In the hellish glow of Bosch's "Last Judgments", the images of Dutch cities and villages burning during the wars are clearly recognizable, right down to the architectural and landscape details of the area.
At the turn of two centuries, during a period of religious conflicts, Bosch creates a cycle of the life of holy hermits.
In it, the artist embodies the power that can withstand cruelty and superstition, and finds it not so much in heaven as in the human soul. His Saint Anthony embodies the ideal of the heroic personality. In the paintings of the holy life, the gloomy fantasy of the artist's visions increases, but at the same time the finest skill of the landscape painter is manifested. Landscapes are becoming more and more extensive and, moving to the foreground, cease to be just a background. In Bosch, to an even greater extent than in his great predecessor Jan van Eyck, nature becomes the real environment of his heroes.
In Bosch's last pictorial cycle, The Passion of the Christ, the landscape disappears altogether, giving way to man. It would be more accurate to say that human faces come to the forefront of the paintings, close to the viewer and presented in close-up. In the tragic scenes of the suffering of Christ, Bosch refers to the origins of morality, betrayal and heroism. One of the first he tries to reveal the secret, full of contradictions, the inner life of man. Already shrewd contemporaries noted that others are trying, as far as possible, to paint a person as he looks from the outside, while he (Bosch) has the courage to paint him as he is inside. Bosch's world is confused, special and unique. Even in the most fantastic images, he is full of serious problems that are relevant not only for his age.
At the end of his life, Bosch was so famous that he began to receive orders from the nobility and the ruling Burgundian court.
Engravings from his work were widely known and popular far beyond the borders of the Netherlands. After the death of the artist in 1516, the young Pieter Brueghel became one of the authors of engravings on his subjects. He was destined to continue Bosch's discoveries in the pictorial knowledge of the world. The artist's understanding of life as a continuous cosmic movement, as the cycle of man and nature, was developed in his work by Peter Brueghel the Elder (Peasant), Albrecht Dürer, and Lucas Cranach.
The multidimensionality of the content of Bosch's works, reflecting the delusions and insights of his critical era, even centuries later, allows various masters to draw from the heritage of the artist's paintings what is close to everyone: the vision of an honorary professor of nightmares or the sharpness of a realist and the subtlety of a poet. Hieronymus Bosch owes his popularity in the 20th century to a large extent to his inherent restlessness of conscience and awareness of the connection between the present and the future.
In preparing the publication, the materials of the article were used
« Mysterious world Bosch "O. Petrochuk, M. 1985
