For five centuries, this name either ascended to heaven, then disappeared into oblivion. Bosch, whose paintings are now declared either extracted from the depths of the subconscious, or simple horror stories, or caricatures, remains a mystery, a mystery that entails ...
Hereditary artist
Accurate information about the life of the master is not enough. His real name is Jeroen Antonison van Aken.
From the name of his hometown on the border of Holland and Flanders (Belgium) - Hertogenbosch - came his nickname - Bosch. The artist’s paintings are presented in the form of copies in the museum of the town where his whole life passed: from birth (about 1450) to burial (1516).
Apparently, he chose the occupation according to family tradition: the artists were his grandfather, father and uncles. A successful marriage saved him from material problems; all his life he entered the Brotherhood of Our Lady, carrying out picturesque orders for him.
Contemporary Leonardo
He lived in the Renaissance, but how unique and peculiar was Bosch! The master’s paintings have nothing to do with what was happening in southern Europe, not in form, not in content. Most of the surviving masterpieces of the master are folding triptychs or parts of them. External flaps were usually painted using the grisaille technique (monochrome), and when opened, you could see an impressive full-color image.
This is exactly what the main masterpieces look like, the author of which is recognized by Jerome Bosch: the paintings “The Hay Hay” (1500-1502), “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (1500-1510), “The Last Judgment” (1504), “The Temptation of St. Anthony” (1505) and others. That is, these are as many as four canvases, or rather, boards, united by a common theme. The surviving parts of the folds have a high independent artistic value.
"The ship of fools"
This is the surviving part of the triptych - the central one, the other two are supposedly called "Gluttony" and "Voluptuousness." It is about these vices that we are talking about in a preserved image. But like any genius, there is no simple, unambiguous edification. “The Ship of Fools” - a picture of Bosch, in which there is no endless series of characters and complex ciphers, but you can not call it a simple illustration for the sermon.
A strange boat through which a tree sprouted. A cheerful company sits in it, including a monk and a nun, all sing selflessly. Their faces are without signs of special mental activity, they are similar and terrible with a special emptiness. It is no coincidence that another character is present here - the lone man who has turned his back on them. Is it not from Shakespeare’s tragedies?
Fantasy genius
“Garden of Earthly Delights” is Bosch’s fantasy take-off and the greatest mystery of world art. On the outer wings in shades of gray - the world on the third day of creation: light, earth and water, and man is represented at the U-turn. Description of Bosch's paintings is a very complicated matter, and this work looks like a giant symphony, overflowing with details and images.
The left part is devoted to the origin of life: the Lord represents Adam the first woman, the Garden of Eden is populated by fantastic animals. But among them evil has already settled - a cat strangles a mouse, a doe is killed by a predator. Is that what the Lord intended?
In the center is a multi-figure 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 is an amazing mass of people, incomprehensible mechanisms, unprecedented creatures. All of them are busy with some terrible bustle, in which some see immense lust, others - elaborate hieroglyphs, indicating the most terrible sins.
On the right is hell, inhabited by the most monstrous images - animated horrors and hallucinations. 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 Jerome Bosch was a member. The paintings of hell filled with cacophony are the result of the inclusion in the church service of musical accompaniment, against which the Brotherhood protested.
The mystery of Bosch
People always wanted to solve a riddle named Bosch. Pictures painted by a fantastically gifted painter excite even psychologists. Some modern psychoanalysts prove that images in the artist’s paintings can only be born of a mentally ill consciousness. Others believe that in order to portray the diversity of human sins, one must have a vicious nature.
Some historians consider Boschian 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 the 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 secret of images and symbols of the artist is forever buried in the river of time, and everyone will have to guess it independently. This opportunity to find your own answers to the riddles of the master is the best gift of Jerome Bosch to his descendants.