HieronymusBosch

During the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance periods, Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516) stood out as an anomaly. While most artists leaned towards realism in their works, Bosch populated his paintings with grotesque scenes of fantastical creatures succumbing to human desire, fantasy, and angst.

One of his greatest innovations was taking drolleries, which were figural and scenic representations of sin and evil, using monsters and grotesque shapes, and moving them from the marginalia of illuminated manuscripts to large-format panel paintings. While traditional man-beast hybrids like centaurs and mythological creatures such as devils, dragons, and unicorns are present in his paintings, Bosch also invented countless mixed creatures of his own.

In addition to these creatures, Bosch included many subsidiary scenes that illustrated proverbs and figures of speech commonly used in his time. For instance, in the Temptation of St. Anthony triptych, a messenger devil skates on ice, referencing the popular expression that the world had gone astray.

Bosch, whose real name was Jheronimus van Aken, was widely imitated and copied. Today, only 20 paintings and eight drawings are confidently attributed to his oeuvre. However, he is still considered a visionary and the quintessential painter of nightmares, dreams, and hells demons.

In anticipation of the upcoming 500th anniversary of Boschs death, this exhaustive book features brand new photography of his recently restored paintings, covering his complete works. Readers will see Boschs pictorial inventions reproduced splendidly with copious details, including a fold-out spread over 110 cm (43 in.) long of The Garden of Earthly Delights. In addition, art historian and acknowledged Bosch expert Stefan Fischer delves into what made the artist and his paintings so influential.

作者简介

StefanFischerstudiedarthistory,historyandclassicalarchaeologyinMünster,AmsterdamandBonn.In2009hecompletedhisdoctoralthesison“HieronymusBosch:MalereialsVision,LehrbildundKunstwerk”.HisspecialistfieldsareNetherlandishpaintingofthe15thtothe17thcenturyandmuseology.