In the Middle Ages, it was customary to portray vice as ugly and frightening, that is, as it really is. But nowhere was evil so bizarre and terrible as in the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch
We know very little about the Dutch artist under the pseudonym Hieronymus Bosch, a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. We know that Jeroen van Aeken (Jeroen van Aeken) - this is his real name - came from the city of 's-Hertogenbosch Duchy of Brabant (the territory of the modern Netherlands). The nickname Bosch may have originated from the abbreviation of the name of his hometown. The master was born around 1450 in the family of a hereditary artist, although not a single painting of this dynasty is known. It can be assumed that he learned his artistic skills in the family. We also know that around 1481 Bosch married the noble and wealthy Aleit Goyarts van den Merven, probably thanks to this marriage, he gained independence and could write whatever he wanted. It is also known that the artist joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady - a religious society in 's-Hertogenbosch,consisting of both monks and laymen, engaged in charity and education. Bosch carried out orders of the brotherhood, for example, the writing of the altar for the Cathedral of St. John. In 1516, the artist died, the funeral service took place in this cathedral, in the chapel (i.e. in the lateral limit) of the brotherhood. We also know that Bosch was famous and revered. After the artist's death, the Spanish king Philip II (1527-1598) collected a large collection of his works in his residence, the El Escorial monastery. After the artist's death, the Spanish king Philip II (1527-1598) collected a large collection of his works in his residence, the El Escorial monastery. After the artist's death, the Spanish king Philip II (1527-1598) collected a large collection of his works in his residence, the El Escorial monastery.
Hieronymus Bosch. Temptation of St. Anthony. Central part of the polyptychn
Bosch's work is mysterious. Spanish theologians of the 16th century suspected him of heresy, but then the artist was acquitted. Some scholars see the influence on Bosch of alchemy and mysticism, especially Johann Ruysbruck, the Flemish mystic, nicknamed the Amazing or Magnificent. Others consider the masters to be a good connoisseur of folk traditions and Dutch folklore. Modern scholars speak of Bosch as a national artist who revived religious painting with folk elements. His fellow painters appreciated his skill in coloring. Philip II saw in Bosch a moralist, denouncer of vices, and, for example, ordered to keep the painting "The Seven Deadly Sins" in his bedroom in El Escorial in order to reflect at his leisure about human sinfulness. One can agree with those researchers who believethat the master's paintings will remain completely unsolved, because they were addressed to a medieval spectator, seriously different from us, a deeply religious Catholic, living in a world of superstition and alchemy, the fires of the Inquisition and mysticism, the constant threats of epidemics and the expectations of the Last Judgment.
Satire is one of the sides of Bosch's painting. The Seven Deadly Sins is considered almost the earliest known work, although the artist himself did not date his works. The scenes of this picture are arranged in a circle, so the researchers assumed that it was a tabletop one. In the center of the composition is the All-Seeing Divine Eye, in the pupil of which is the figure of Christ. Under it is the inscription: "Beware, beware, God sees everything." Next are scenes depicting seven sins with Latin names: anger, pride, lust, laziness, gluttony, greed, and envy. Above and below the circle are quotes from Deuteronomy: “For they are a people who have lost their minds, and they have no meaning. Oh, if they had reasoned, thought about this, understood what would happen to them! " (Deut 32: 28-29) and “And he said, I will hide my face from them, and I will see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation; children,in which there is no fidelity”(Deut 32:20). In the four corners of the picture, "the four last things" are depicted: death, the Last Judgment, hell and the Heavenly Gates.
"A Carriage of Hay" is another satirical work of Bosch, the central part of the altar , created as an illustration to the Dutch proverb "The world is a haystack, and everyone tries to grab from it as much as they can." In the middle of the composition there is a cart, on top of it sit the personification of vices: women singing and playing musical instruments - pride and a demon with a trumpet - glory. The crowd, in which you can distinguish both the pope and the king, is chasing the wagon, falling under the wheels.
“Everyone is chasing sensual delights, social status, honor and glory, but all this is short-term, transient and, ultimately, does not cost more than hay,” wrote the Spanish monk Jose de Sigensa, librarian of Escorial and connoisseur of Bosch about the painting.
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Researchers believe that the picture depicts the vanity of worldly vanity, a greedy pursuit of passing values. The left wing of the altar, of which the "Carriage of Hay" is a part, is a picture of the underworld. Therefore, a cart drawn by wickedness goes straight to hell.
Sometimes Bosch departs from allegories. In the painting "Carrying the Cross" there are only faces: the ugly cursing, slandering, scolding the Lord and the mournful faces of Christ and St. Veronica. According to de Sigensa, Bosch is the only artist who dared to depict a person as he is on the inside, unlike others who painted what is outside.
The pictures of hell were the second, most mysterious side of Bosch's work. Bosch has hell and demons almost everywhere. The altar of "The Temptation of St. Anthony" (St. Anthony the Great) is filled with demons: monsters made up of parts of various animals, ugly dwarfs, flying fish-ships, headless birds, objects that come to life, and nude female figures. Twentieth century critics called Hieronymus Bosch crazy. Thanks to the images of fiery hell, the master received the nickname "honorary professor of nightmares" from the surrealists. They considered the artist their medieval forerunner, who unconsciously sketched the fruits of his unbridled imagination. How justified is such an interpretation of Bosch's painting is a controversial issue, since researchers have found alchemical and mystical symbols in hellish panoramas,as well as borrowing from literary works.
The most mysterious and most famous altar "Garden of Earthly Delights" has three doors
: on the right - paradise, the last three days of the creation of the world; on the central - the Garden of Pleasures itself; on the left is hell. The central part is controversial. Many researchers of our time called it the natural instinctive life shortly before the Fall: many nude figures indulge in games and amorous pleasures, ride unseen animals, swim in a pond, and eat bizarre huge fruits. It is captivating that this is perhaps the only lyrical, at first glance, composition of Bosch, there is no terrible in it, it is made in clear and rich colors, flooded with soft light. Moreover, the landscape in it is very similar to the landscape of paradise from the right wing.
However, in the midst of this seemingly innocent panorama, here and there an owl peeps out - a symbol of temptation and deception, a hoopoe - a sign of impurity, a butterfly - the personification of windy desire, a unicorn - an indication of death. The mystic Johann Ruisbruck writes that the owl avoids the light and visits the dead. People who resemble an owl are lazy and idle, avoid daylight because they do not want to know, understand and love existence. The hoopoe prefers to live where the air is smelly. He was compared to an unclean person who wants to be pleasant to people and for this he dresses up in beautiful feathers. One of the researchers called the "Garden" "poisoned paradise", the consequence of which can only be hell (left wing)
A bird-headed creature sitting on a high throne, eating sinners and defecating them into a cesspool; a man crucified on a harp; a hare that has caught its hunter; demons with disgusting faces, piles of bodies - this is Bosch's hell, where chaos reigns. The master, most likely, borrowed the motive of musical instruments from some medieval composition "The Vision of Tundal", where the careless knight Tundal had a chance to visit hell during his lifetime. The lighting in the picture is harsh, unnatural, but it casts doubts on the ghostly nature of the underworld - hell is real. “Monsters and similar characters of Bosch are not a product of whimsical imagination, but beings from another reality much closer to the truth than the one that we fix with our eyes. They display this reality as a living manifestation, its secret life, driving forces, an extreme degree of decline and decay”,- wrote the researcher Bosch Barnes, who lived in the twentieth century.
What hell did Hieronymus Bosch portray - his own internal, subjective, or external, objective? Many modern researchers claim that the underworld in his works is the underworld of his soul. By portraying her, the artist escaped from her. Could it be that, indeed, as Dominic Lampsonius wrote in 1572, hell is shown to him? And what soul could withstand such darkness? And where could you find salvation?
Some believe that Bosch may have feared his creations himself. Some people think that he tried to instill piety through fear. Some say that the darkness in his paintings defeated the light. But the panoramas of hell suggest that somewhere there is paradise, and the darkness suggests the light that Bosch testified to through this darkness. Perhaps, through the darkness, the master made his way to the Light. After all, he also has beautiful, sunny images of saints, and far behind the stage, with a cart of hay, a wonderful landscape is spread, and in the clouds you can see the bright image of Christ.