Hieronymus Bosch was a Dutch painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oak wood, mainly contains fantastic illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. Within his lifetime, his work was collected in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, and widely copied, especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell.
Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch
The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things (1500)
The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things is a painting attributed to the Early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch or to a follower of his, completed around 1500 or later. Since 1898 its authenticity has been questioned several times. In 2015 the Bosch Research Conservation Project claimed it to be by a follower, but scholars at the Prado, where the painting is on display in a sealed case, dismissed this argument. The painting is oil on wooden panels and is presented in a series of circular images.
Four small circles, detailing the four last things—Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell—surround a larger circle in which the seven deadly sins are depicted: wrath at the bottom, then (proceeding clockwise) envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, extravagance (later replaced with lust), and pride, using scenes from life rather than allegorical representations of the sins.
Ship of Fools (painting) (1500)
Ship of Fools (painted c. 1490–1500) is a painting by the Early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch (d. 1515), now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Camille Benoit donated it in 1918. The Louvre restored it in 2015.
The surviving painting is a fragment of a triptych that was cut into several parts. This piece, originally part of a larger body of work relating to the seven deadly sins, depicts the sin of gluttony. The Ship of Fools was painted on one of the wings of the altarpiece, and is about two-thirds of its original length. The bottom third of the panel belongs to Yale University Art Gallery and is exhibited under the title Allegory of Gluttony. The other wing, which has more or less retained its full length, is the Death and the Miser, now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The two panels together would have represented the two extremes of prodigality and miserliness, condemning and caricaturing both. The Wayfarer (Rotterdam) was painted on the right panel rear of the triptych. The central panel, if it existed, is unknown.
Triptych of the Temptation of St. Anthony (1501)
The Triptych of Temptation of St. Anthony is an oil painting on wood panels by the Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch, dating from around 1501. The work portrays the mental and spiritual torments endured by Saint Anthony the Great (Anthony Abbot), one of the most prominent of the Desert Fathers of Egypt in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. The Temptation of St. Anthony was a popular subject in Medieval and Renaissance art. In common with many of Bosch's works, the triptych contains much fantastic imagery. The painting hangs in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, in Lisbon.
According to some historians, the work could be one of the three Temptations recorded in the inventory of Philip II of Spain sent to the Escorial in 1574. From the 1950s, it had traditionally been considered more likely that the triptych was bought by the Portuguese humanist Damião de Góis between 1523 and 1545. In fact, the painting was documented as part of the collections in the Royal Palace of Lisbon in 1872 March from Spain, and in 1911, it was donated it to its current museum.
The Haywain Triptych (1510)
The Haywain Triptych is a panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. A date of around 1516 has been established by means of dendrochronological research. The central panel, signed "Jheronimus Bosch", measures 135 cm × 200 cm (53 in × 79 in) and the wings measure 147 cm × 66 cm (58 in × 26 in). The outside shutters feature a full color version of Bosch's The Wayfarer.
The painting was part of a group of six acquired by King Philip II of Spain in 1570, and shipped to El Escorial four years later. It was later sold to the Marquis of Salamanca, and divided into three paintings. In 1848, the central panel was bought by Isabella II of Spain and brought to Aranjuez, the right one was returned to Escorial and the left went to the Prado. The triptych was finally recomposed in 1914 in the latter museum. A copy exists at the Escorial.
The Garden of Earthly Delights (1490)
The Garden of Earthly Delights (Dutch: De tuin der lusten, lit. 'The garden of lusts') is the modern title given to a five-panel triptych (three oil-painted panels when open, two oak panels when closed) by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch, between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between 40 and 60 years old. Because of Bosch's religious beliefs, interpretations of the work typically assume it is a warning against the perils of temptation. The outer panels place the work on the Third Day of Creation. The intricacy of its symbolism, particularly that of the central panel, has led to a wide range of scholarly interpretations over the centuries.
Twentieth-century art historians are divided as to whether the triptych's central panel is a moral warning or a panorama of the paradise lost. He painted three large triptychs (the others are The Last Judgment of c. 1482 and The Haywain Triptych of c. 1516) that can be read from left to right and in which each panel was essential to the meaning of the whole. Each of these three works presents distinct yet linked themes addressing history and faith. Triptychs from this period were generally intended to be read sequentially, the left and right panels often portraying Eden and the Last Judgment respectively, while the main subject was contained in the centerpiece.
The Wayfarer (painting) (1500)
The Wayfarer (or The Pedlar) is an oil-on-panel painting by the Early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch, created c. 1500. It is now in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. This painting is round and 71.5 cm (28.1 in) in diameter. It is one of the fragments of a partially lost triptych or diptych, which also included the Allegory of Gluttony and Lust, the Ship of Fools and Death and the Miser.
The figure is similar to the man depicted in The Path of Life panel on the exterior of The Haywain Triptych. The character has been interpreted as choosing between the path of virtue at the gate on the right or debauchery in the house on the left, or as the prodigal son returning home from the world.
Death and the Miser (1500)
Death and the Miser (also known as Death of the Usurer) is a Northern Renaissance painting produced between 1490 and 1516 by the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. The piece was originally part of a triptych, but the center piece is missing. It is a memento mori painting, which is meant to remind the viewer of the inevitability of death and the futility of the pursuit of material wealth, illustrating the sin of greed.
There is still debate about the exact symbolism of the man and the objects in the foreground. Bosch was influenced by the Ars moriendi, religious texts that instructed Christians how to live and die. It is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Christ Carrying the Cross (Bosch, Ghent) (1510)
Christ Carrying the Cross (also referred to as Christ Bearing the Cross) is a painting attributed to a follower of Hieronymus Bosch. It was painted in the early 16th century, presumably between 1510 and 1535. The work is housed in the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. Various aspects of the painting have been a source of scholarly debate. The painting is notable for its use of caricature to provide grotesque-looking faces surrounding Jesus and is an expression of Bosch's pessimistic views. It exhibits Christian imagery and symbolism, deriving its core elements from the Bible.
The work was bought by the Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent in 1902, and was restored in 1956–1957. As for all Bosch-related works, the dating is uncertain, although most art historians assigned it to his late career. The catalogue of the Bosch exhibition held in Rotterdam in 2001 assigned it to 1510–1535, attributing the execution to a follower. According to one of the authors, Bernard Vermet, that it is not a typical work of Bosch it is generally accepted and he finds it hard to believe that it was painted by the same painter as the Christ Crowned with Thorns in the National Gallery in London. Moreover, the colours remind him of the Mannerists of the 1530s and he relates the work to the Triptych of the Passion in Valencia and the Christ Before Pilate in Princeton, works that were definitely painted after the death of Bosch. Since then the rejection has been accepted by Stephan Fischer and disputed by Fritz Koreny.
Ecce Homo (Bosch, Frankfurt) (1490)
Ecce Homo is a painting of the episode in the Passion of Jesus by the Early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch, painted between 1475 and 1485. The original version, with a provenance in collections in Ghent, is in the Städel Museum in Frankfurt; a copy is held the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The painting takes its title from the Latin words Ecce Homo, "Behold the Man" spoken by the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate when Jesus is paraded before a baying, angry mob in Jerusalem before he is sentenced to be crucified.
Ecce Homo shows Jesus stripped and brought before the people by the members of the Roman council, who are flanked by soldiers. The people mock and jeer Jesus, who wears a Crown of Thorns. His hands are bound with shackles, while the redness of the now raw flesh on his legs, hands and chest attests to the fact that he has been beaten with a scourge. The dialogue between Pilate and the mob is indicated by three Gothic inscriptions placed near the mouths of the protagonists. These function in a similar manner to banderoles or the speech balloons used in modern comic strips. To Pilate's cry of Ecce Homo the mob reply Crucifige Eum (Crucify Him). A third inscription Salve nos Christe redemptor (Save us, Christ Redeemer) can be seen in the lower left of the canvas, from the mouths of what were the representations of two donors, but which were later painted over. Typical of Bosch, the painting is suffused with symbolic imagery. Most notable are the placing two animals traditionally seen as emblems of evil in Christian iconography—an owl perched above Pilate, and a giant toad seen resting on the shield of one of the soldiers.
Cutting the Stone (1503)
Cutting the Stone, also called The Extraction of the Stone of Madness or The Cure of Folly, is an oil-on-panel painting completed c.1494 or later by the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
The painting depicts a surgeon, wearing a funnel hat, removing the stone of madness from a patient's head by trepanation. An assistant, a monk bearing a tankard, stands nearby. Playing on the double-meaning of the word kei (stone or bulb), the stone appears as a flower bulb, while another flower rests on the table. A woman with a book balanced on her head looks on.
Adoration of the Magi (Bosch, Madrid) (1494)
The Adoration of the Magi or The Epiphany is a triptych oil painting on wood panel by the Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch, executed around 1485–1500. It is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain.
In about 1494, Peeter Scheyfve (-1507) and Agnes de Gramme (?-about 1497) commissioned this altarpiece. They were wealthy burghers in Antwerp. The painting was in the El Escorial monastery, and was mentioned in 1605 as an "Epiphany without any extravaganza" by Fra Jose de Siguenza, and its being unlike Bosch's other work there. It has been at the Prado since 1839. The latest dendrochronological investigation (2016) has determined that the panels were produced after 1472 and most probably after 1474.
The Last Judgment (Bosch, Vienna) (1506)
The Last Judgment is a triptych by the Early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch, created after 1482.
The triptych is now in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria. The outside of the shutters panel are painted in grisaille on panel, while the inside shutters and the center panel are painted in oil. The left and right panels measure 167.7 x 60 cm and the center panel measures 164 x 127 cm. It is not to be confused with either a fragmented piece of art by Bosch under the same title (now at Munich), or another full painting by Bosch, possibly by a painter in his workshop.