Hieronymus Bosch. Paintings full of unsolved mysteries

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Hieronymus Bosch. Paintings full of unsolved mysteries
Hieronymus Bosch. Paintings full of unsolved mysteries

Video: Hieronymus Bosch. Paintings full of unsolved mysteries

Video: Hieronymus Bosch. Paintings full of unsolved mysteries
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For five centuries this name either ascended to the skies or dissolved into oblivion. Bosch, whose paintings are now declared to be either extracted from the depths of the subconscious, or simple horror stories, or caricatures, remains a mystery, a mystery that attracts …

Hereditary artist

There is little exact information about the life of the master. His real name is Jeroen Antonison van Aken.

Bosch, paintings
Bosch, paintings

From the name of his hometown on the border of Holland and Flanders (Belgium) - 's-Hertogenbosch - came his nickname - Bosch. The artist's paintings are presented in the form of copies in the museum of the town, where he spent his whole life: from birth (about 1450) to burial (1516).

He chose his occupation, apparently, according to family tradition: his grandfather, father and uncles were artists. A successful marriage saved him from material problems, all his life he was a member of the Brotherhood of Our Lady, performing painting commissions for him.

Contemporary of Leonardo

He lived in the Renaissance, but how unique and original was Bosch! The master's paintings have nothing to do with what happened in the south of Europe, not in form, not in content. Majoritythe surviving pictorial masterpieces of the master - folded triptychs or parts thereof. The outer doors were usually painted in grisaille (monochrome), and when opened, one could see an impressive full-color image.

Hieronymus Bosch, paintings
Hieronymus Bosch, paintings

This is how the main masterpieces, the author of which is recognized by Hieronymus Bosch, look like: the paintings "The Hay" (1500-1502), "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (1500-1510), "The Last Judgment" (1504), "The Temptation of the Saint Anthony” (1505) and others. That is, these are four canvases, or rather, boards, united by a common theme. The surviving parts of the folds have a high independent artistic value.

Ship of Fools

This is the surviving part of the triptych - the central one, the other two were supposedly called "Gluttony" and "Voluptuousness". It is these defects that are discussed in the surviving image. But like any genius, there is no simple, unambiguous edification here. "Ship of Fools" is a painting by Bosch, in which there is no endless series of symbols and complex ciphers, but it cannot be called a simple illustration for a sermon.

Ship of Fools - painting by Bosch
Ship of Fools - painting by Bosch

A strange boat through which a tree sprouted. A cheerful company sits in it, including a monk and a nun, everyone sings selflessly. Their faces - without signs of special mental activity, they are similar and terrible with a special emptiness. It is no coincidence that there is another character here - a jester who has turned away from them alone. Is it from Shakespeare's tragedies?

Fantasy Genius

"Garden of Earthly Delights" - the rise of Bosch's fantasy andthe greatest mystery of the world of art. On the outer doors in shades of gray - the world on the third day of creation: light, earth and water, and a man is presented on the spread. Describing Bosch paintings is a very complex undertaking, and this work is like a giant symphony, overflowing with details and images.

The left side is devoted to the origin of life: the Lord presents the first woman to Adam, the Garden of Eden is inhabited by fantastic animals. But evil has already settled among them - a cat strangles a mouse, a doe is killed by a predator. Was this how the Lord intended?

Description of Bosch paintings
Description of Bosch paintings

In the center is a multi-figured composition, which is called a false paradise. Above the cycle of life in the form of a closed cavalcade of riders is a fantastically beautiful lake with four channels, with a sky in which birds and people fly. Below - an amazing mass of people, incomprehensible mechanisms, unprecedented creatures. All of them are busy with some kind of terrible fuss, in which some see immense lust, others are fanciful hieroglyphs denoting the most terrible sins.

On the right is a hell inhabited by the most monstrous images - horrors and hallucinations come to life. This composition is also called "Musical Hell": there are many images associated with sounds and musical instruments. There is a theory that this is dictated by the Brotherhood of Our Lady, of which Hieronymus Bosch was a member. The images of hell filled with cacophony are the result of the inclusion of musical accompaniment in the church service, against which the Brotherhood protested.

The Bosch Mystery

People have always wanted to solve a riddle named Bosch. Pictures paintedfantastically gifted painter, excite even psychologists. Some modern psychoanalysts prove that the images in the artist's paintings can only be born by a mentally ill consciousness. Others believe that in order to depict the variety of human sins in this way, one must have a vicious nature.

Some historians consider Bosch's compositions to be a record of alchemical recipes, where components and manipulations to obtain precious elixirs and potions are encrypted in the form of fantastic creatures. Others record the artist as a member of the secret sect of Adamites - supporters of the return to the innocent nature of the first people - Adam and Eve, who called for greater sexual freedom.

We have to admit that the mystery of the artist's images and symbols is forever buried in the river of time, and everyone will have to guess it on their own. This opportunity to find your own answers to the riddles of the master is the best gift of Hieronymus Bosch to posterity.

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