Hieronymous Bosch

Such is the originality of Bosch’s paintings that experts have no clues as to the possible influence of better known contemporary artist – even though he was an almost exact contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci. “His is a world apart, self-sufficient, indivisible. Analysis of his art, however close, leads nowhere” is what Robert Delevoy has to say on the painter. Hence, this could therefore be the shortest article ever written. But Bosch deserves better.  Few painters went under so many names as Jeroen, Jheronimus or Hieronymus Bosch. His real name was Jeroen van Aken and in Spain, he is known as “El Bosco”. Bosch was a Dutch painter of the 15th-16th century, and he is often left out of the overviews of Dutch painters of the 15th century, as art historians do not know what to do with him – or his art. Delevoy notes that when Dürer visited his home-town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch (from which he took his name), he did not say a word about Bosch, possibly because he too did not know what to do, or think, of him. Bosch has been labelled the “Dante of the painters” and is general described as a critic, exposing the corruption, greed and deception of society. What his fellow Dutch contemporary Erasmus did in writing, Bosch did in his paintings. Others, however, have argued that he used lots of iconography, so much so that for some, he was more of a sectarian mystic or even someone who imbibed his paintings with alchemical codes. In Seven Deadly Sins, one of his early paintings, the centre of the painting represents an eye, with 128 rays of light emanating from it. For art historian Wilhelm Fraenger, this is evidence that Bosch belonged to a sect of heretics.  Bosch used images of demons, half-human animals and machines, but it is said that these were merely tools to evoke fear and confusion, in his efforts to portray the evil of man. But such symbolism has meant that Bosch’s painting contain complex, highly original, imaginative composition, that are set in surreal landscapes – landscapes of the mind. Indeed, if Bosch was purely trying to depict the evils of his time, then it is clear he seemed to think evil occurred within the mind, rather than in the real world. Either way, he is sometimes said to have been the spark that ignited the surrealist movement of the 20th century, which would produce modern greats such as Salvador Dali. Dali knew the works of Bosch (who was furthermore highly popular in Spain) and felt compelled to deny the influence: “I myself am the anti-Hieronymus Bosch.” But Pieter Brueghel the Elder was influenced by Bosch’s work and produced several paintings in a similar style, for instance the 1562 work The Triumph of Death. The Fall of the Rebel Angels was even wrongfully credited to Bosch – until Brueghel’s signature was discovered beneath the frame.