Hieronymus Bosch

Between Magic and Reality

Biography of Hieronymus Bosch

Hieronymus Bosch was born in 1450 in Hertogenbosch, a provincial butprosperous town located in the modern Netherlands close to the Belgianborder. He is one of the most famous of the Netherlandish artists, knownfor his enigmatic panels illustrating complex religious subjects withfantastic, often demonic imagery.

Too little information is safes about his life. His father andgrandfather were both painters in the same town before him and apparently
Bosch lived all his life there. From his childhood he lived in artist'sfamily. He married a reach and highborn woman, Aleid van Mervey. Hieronymus
Bosch joined the lay of the Confraternity of Notre Dame. It was founded in
1318. The symbol of the organization was white swan. This sodalityconsists of friars and secular people. This organization kept away from the
Catholic Church, it confessed ideas of humanism and mysticism. The sodalityorganized a number of printing houses and schools. Bosch was responsiblefor designing a stained-glass window, among several other works, for thetown church.

In 1480 he was for the first time mentioned as a painter. The lasttime he was mentioned in the books of sodality - the 9 of August 1516. Itwas the day of his funeral.

Mystery of Bosch's paintings

Bosch is one of the most mysterious painters in the world. Theattitude toward him has changed through years. His contemporaries thoughtthat he was a strange man, who paint fantastic pictures, frightful andfunny at the same time. His paintings became very popular in Spain and in
Portugal. In Portugal there are the most good collections of paintings of
Bosch. There are thousands of books about Bosch and his works. Referencesto astrology, folklore, witchcraft, and alchemy, in addition to the themeof the Antichrist and episodes from the lives of exemplary saints, are allwoven together by Bosch into a labyrinth of late medieval Christianiconography. Some scientists think that Bosch was a forerunner of thesurrealism. Some think he was a real catholic, some that he was an atheist.
From his paintings we can understand that he was a very well educatedperson, he knew Bible and lots of other books of past and present, he alsonew lots of folk legends. He was good at science, medicine, astrology andeven alchemy. We can say that he also knew music because we can find lotsof musical instruments on his pictures. Scholars differ in theirinterpretation of Bosch's art, but most agree that his pictures show apreoccupation with the human propensity for sin in defiance of God, as wellas with God's eternal damnation of lost souls in hell as a fatefulconsequence of human folly. The main theme of his paintings was theopposition of Good and Evil, of God and Devil, of life and death.

Among the dozens of Boschian paintings, the autograph works generallyaccepted as his include the following: The Marriage at Cana (Museum Boymans -van Beuningen, Rotterdam), The Seven Deadly Sins (Prado, Madrid),
Crucifixion (Museus Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), The Hay Wain (Prado),
The Death of the Miser (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC), The
Temptation of Saint Anthony (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon), The
Garden of Earthly Delights (Prado), The Adoration of the Magi (Prado), and
Christ Carrying the Cross (Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent).

Periods of paintings

Dated works by Bosch do not exist so we cant only imagine thechronology of his paintings. Researchers divide his work into 3 periods --the earliest, mature and oldest period.

The paintings which belong to the earliest period (1470 - 1500) mostlydevoted to religious themes. Most of them are illustrations to the Bible.
In the manner of this time we can see an incertitude. Some of the paintingsare miniatures. Among the paintings of the first period there are suchworks as "The Adoration of the magi", "Christ Shown to the People", "
Crucifixion "," The Seven Deadly Sins ".

We can refer such pictures as" Garden of Delights "," The last
Judgement ", 'Monsters", "The Hay Wain" etc. to the middle period of
Bosch's work. His paintings in that period were full of little figures ofpeople and other creatures, sometimes unreal and strange. But to the end ofthe middle period and in the last period of his work Bosch's paintingsbecome simply and light. Most of them devoted to the life of saint people,like "Temptation of St Anthony", "St John the Evangelist on Patmos" andothers. The evil became more realistic, it connected with real people, notmonsters.

The technics of paintings

The technics of Bosch's painting is different from other painter'stechnics of his time. The colors are more bright and rich and this make hispaintings more lively and dinamic. Often he draw on the piece of wood. Onthe wood colors became more bright and at the same time crystal. He alsoused varnish atop the colour.

Bosch originally solved the problem of space. In his earliest workshe try to follow the rules of the traditional perspective, but then, in hisnext works he invent his own technics. It is the fantastic space full oflittle figures, composed several chains. In his last works his technicschanged again. All figures moved to the first plan. There is no perspectiveon this paintings.

Stylistically, Bosch worked in a manner called alla prima, a methodof applying paint freely on a preliminary ground of brownish paint. He wasfamiliar with Dutch manuscript paintings and with foreign prints, and manyof his images can be traced to these sources.

Symbols

The paintings of Hieronymus Bosch are full of symbols. The symbolsare so different that it is very hard to find one general key to all ofthem. One symbol can denote lots of different things and objects. Thesymbols in Bosch's paintings came from different sources: alchemy, magictractates, folklore, religious books and others.

The symbols, which came from alchemy, are the most enigmatic in hispaintings. It is often symbols of evil, Devil and demons, and also symbolsof lust. There are lots of crystal spheres in his paintings and it's comefrom alchemy. We can see different stages of substance, water, gas andothers.

We can see different fruits and berries that symbolized lust. Thereare lots of symbols of male and female in his paintings. Always sharpobjects like arrows, knifes, horns are the symbols of man. Symbols ofwoman are circles, shells, jugs, etc.

Bosch took lots of symbols of animals from bible: we can find camels,rabbits, pigs, horses and other "impure" animals, which symbolized sin andevil. Often we can see an owl on his paintings. It is a symbol of wisdomand at the same time of heresy. Also there are lots of skeletons of animalsand stale trees on his paintings.

Other symbols that we can often find in his works are steps, whichsymbolized cognition in alchemy and also sexual intercourse. Also thesymbol of cognition is the key. One of the most fearful symbols is the clipleg - the symbol of pain, torture and magic.

The works of Hieronymus Bosch (aspecially the paintings of the secondperiod) are full of different images of Satan. We can see a traditionaldemons with horns, wings and tale, but also there are bugs, half-human half -animal creatures, anthropomorphic machines and other grotesque figures.
Often Bosch painted demons as a music instruments, mostly wind-instruments.
Finally one of the most prevalent symbol of his paintings is a mirror - thesymbol of temptation.

The first period of Bosch's work: Seven Deadly Sins

We don't know exactly when Hieronymus Bosch created "Seven Deadly
Sins ". It was somewhere between 1475 - 1480. It's painted with oil on thepiece of wood, and it was a surface of the table. The size of this paintingis 120 x 150 sm. According to Mr. Feldman this painting concerned with thestyle of emotion, like the most paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. It can bealso a style of fantasy but this painting is more sarcastic than fantastic.
Primarily it belonged to Spanish king Philip the Second. Now it is situatedin Madrid, in Prado museum. It is signed by Hieronymus Bosch.

The central, circular composition symbolized the eye, eye of Universe,eye of God. In the apple of the eye there is a figure of Jesus Christ and asentence under him: Cave, cave d [omi] n [u] s videt (Beware because God look atyou). The light rays radiate from the figure of Christ. Some researcherssaid that it is a symbol of mirror that fends off all human sins. Aroundhim there are 7 miniatures represented 7 sins and each sin is named. Thereare: Ira (ire, rage, anger), Superbia (vanity), Luscuria (desire), Accidia
(laziness), Guia (guzzle), Avaritia (avarice) and Invidia (envy). At thecorners of the painting there are four other miniatures represented Death,
The Last Judgement, Hell and Heaven. There are two sentences from Bible atthe top and bottom of the painting. There are no allegories on thispainting, everything is concrete, taken from life. Bosch depicted people ofdifferent sections of population, but all of them are sinners. The mainidea of this painting that our blood and our money is nothing for God.
Every person will be on the last Judgement and if he is sinner he will besend to Hell.

Ira - on this miniature we can see the scrimmage of two drunkpeasants. Ira is the result of the alcoholism. A woman try to stop them,but without any result. Bosch depicted the sin with the help of suchsymbols as kicked off wooden shoes, a chair on the head of one man andothers, but most of all with the help of grotesque. The figures of peasantsare awful and ugly, they are very fat with crooked legs. The beautifulnature is also served to show their unpleasantness.

Superbia - we can see a woman in her room, staying in front of themirror (the symbol of temptation), which is kept by the devil. The womantrying on a new hat. The room is painted in the style of Bosch's time andit is look like many others rooms in the Holland houses. This picture ispointed against the interest off many women in the fashion.

Luscuria - on this part of painting there are man and woman in thetabernacle. We can see musical instruments on the ground - they symbolizepassion.

Accidia - the lazy priest is sleeping, instead of prey. A cat on thefloor is sleeping too.

Guia - the picture show us the scene of diner. I think it is the mostterrible picture because the food is given by nun. All characters are awfuland ugly. They look like animals, not people. One man is very fat while theother is thin. They are very dirty.

Avaritia - in this picture we can see how the bribed judge is goingto accuse of the innocent man. The book on the wooden box is like a digunder the justice.

Invidia - on this picture Bosch show us quarrel between the neighbors.
And their dogs like their masters bark at each other.

Other four pictures show to us what will happened to us. First it is afragment of death. It is the death of a reach man. The priest gives himabsolution. There is a skeleton behind the dying man. And above his headthe angel and the demon are fighting for his soul.

The next picture represent Doomsday. It is painted in the traditionalway. The Christ is seating on the throne with many angels around him. Andreveal people are below him, on the Earth. The Heaven is painted in atraditional manner too. St Peter and other angels meet saintly people nearthe gates of Heaven.

On this painting Bosch depicted Hell for the first time. This pictureis the key to other Bosch's paintings of Hell because Bosch wrote anexplanation under every torture. For the sin of ire people are crucified.
Avid people siting in the fleshpot with a molten golden coins. Voluptuouspeople are enchained to the bed and a terrible monster bite them. Drankpeople are drinking dishwater. Bosch took some of the elements of torturesfrom the book "Visions of Tundhall" about his vision of Hell. It was verypopular book in Bosch's times.

Bosch use very bright, full colors in this painting. They became darkand gloomy only in 2 parts of painting, devoted to Death and Hell. There isa normal perspective in this picture. Most lines are geometrical andstraight. The painter doesn't use lot's of shades. The point of attentionis at the center of the picture on the Christ's figure. We can see balanceand also harmony in this painting.

The main idea of the paintings "Seven deadly sins" is that all peopleare the same in God's eyes. And He knew all our deeds and our sins. Everyperson, reach or poor will die and then come to the Last Judgement. No onewill help you besides God. The painting is circular to show us that thesins are the same in every next generation. It is a symbol of the circle ofsins, symbol of our Earth, of our University.

I think it is a very meditative painting, that make us thinking. Maybe because of that Philip the Second hung it in his tabernacle.

The second period of Bosch's work: Garden of Delights

Bosch painted "the Garden of Delights" in 1500 - 1510. It is also oilpainting. The size of the central part the painting is 220 x 195, the sizeof each fold is 200 x 97. Now it is situated in Madrid, in Prado.

The painting is full of little figures and it is very colorful. Itslook like a wonderful carpet. The figures of people are dancing in acolorful roundelay. All colors are light, spring and soft. The bright lightis overflow the scene.

The painting is very harmonic. It has a normal perspective. Mostlines are curved and natural. It's very hard to find the point of attentionbecause of the lots of objects on the painting but I think it is at the oneof fantastic building at the center of the painting.

At the outer part of the folds there is the third day of the
Creation. There are 2 sentences at the top of the painting - "Jpse dixit etfacta su [n] t "(He said and it's appeared) and" Jpse mandavit et createsu [n] t "(He said and create). In the center in the crystal sphere appearsthe first mineral and vegetal life.

The Heaven as usual is painted on the left fold. The first man andall animals have been already created. The heaven is full of different andsometimes fantastic animals: elephants and giraffes are pasture withunicorns, birds with three heads and fishes with wings. The cactus behind
Adam is the symbol of Life Tree, the palm is the tree of the Evil and Good.
God begins to create Eve. With her creation the evil and sin came. Animalsbegin to eat each others and in a fountain settled an owl - the symbol ofevil. This fountain that look like bright globe with a half-crystals half -plants on it and a half-moon on the top is the symbol of heresy. The centerof it is the center off the all fold. It correspond with a figure of human -tree-egg in the Hell. At the same manner the figure of God the Makercorrespond with the figure of Devil who eat the sinners. So the folds aresymbolized Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End of the world.

The Hell on the right fold is painted in a dark colors. Someresearchers think that black, red and white colours are the symbols ofdifferent stadies of boiling mercury. It is the world of IСE and fire.
Bosch took some episodes from the book "The visions of Tundhall". Anothersources where Bosch could took his images are the book "Ars morendi" (1488)and "The big calendar of cattlemen" (1493). The painting "Seven deadlysins "can also help to understand this part of painting. The group near the
Satan's throne are the vanity. The man who are crucified on the table isthe bowler. We also can see a man who conclude a treaty with devil.
The gigantic ear with an arrow in it is a symbol of the disaster. S. De
Tolnay said that Hell is Bosch's nightmare. It is very interesting factthat we can see a self-portrait of Bosch here, as a face of human-tree-egg.
V. Fenger thinks that Hell is the place where rebirth of our world begen.
It happened with the help of two musical instruments - harp, lute andpipes. But other researchers think that this instruments are the symbols ofevil. V. Frenger interpret them as a memory of Heaven. He also said thatthe village, fire, mill and flood are the symbols of four elements.

The central part of the painting is our world that is full of sins andevil. At the center of the painting there is a chain of people around thespring of youth. G. Kombe interpret it as a alchemic motive of eternalyouth. In the spring there are women with a ravens on their heads and itsymbolized the heresy. The peacocks symbolized vanity, ibises - the pastjoy, different animals in the cavalcade are the symbols of salacity andother carnal sins. There are lots of symbols of male and female originssuch as half-moons, horns, cones, cylinders, spheres, etc. which are thealchemic symbols at the same time. The fruits and berries are the symbolsof salacity and carnal love. The man who are carrying the shell with twolovers are the deceived husband. Lots of spheres at different parts of thepainting is the symbols of the sins and vises and also the symbols of ourworld, full of sins. Behind the bright colour and lots of light there aresins and evil. And the colour also have it's meaning. In alchemy red meanscreation and blue was the colour of illusions.

It is the most mysterious and enigmatic Bosch's work. The meaning ofthe painting all in all and it's symbols are the reason for numerousdebates. The first explanation of this painting was made in 1605 by apriest, Jose de Siguensa. He wrote in a book of order of St. Hieronymusthat on the painting we can see the appearance of the sin in the Heaven,the evolution of the sin in our world and the punishment in the Hell.
However V. Fenger think that the painting is more optimistic and itsymbolized the depuration by the fire and ice in the Hell, than in thepurgatory (the central part of triptych) and than came to felicity in
Heaven. Most of researchers refuse the theory of Fender.

People of all epochs invented lots of theories, sometimes fantasticand impossible about the meaning of Bosch's paintings and I think thatlot's of theories will be created later but no one can prove it and nobodycan find out which theory is right and which is not. Bosch's pictures willstay for us as a mystery forever.

Bibliography

1. "Майстра живопису. Босх "Доната Баттілотті, видавництво" Біле місто ",

Москва, 1998 р.
2. Н. Н. Нікулін "Золотий вік нідерландської живопису. 15 століття "видавництво

" Образотворче мистецтво ", Москва, 1981 р.
3. Internet: http://www.kultur-online.com/greatest