Paintings by Heironymus Bosch

Paintings by Heironymus Bosch I would be interested to learn from any art knowledgable fellow ats members on their thoughts and ideas on the paintings of Heironymus Bosch.

He was born in the 1500s and he must have been on something or getting mad dreams to come up with the paintings he created.

The reason I ask is, I,m not an art historian and basically know nothing about art. I do know a picture comes from the mind and this man's mind must have been mind bending.

I think its got to do with extreme good and bad but some of the characters depicted look pure evil.

en.wikipedia.org...:GardenED.jpg

Courtesy of wikipedia

He said his paintings were about mankind rushing too selfdestruction, but they could turn it around if the wanted. He never said much about what his paintings were about. Wich is understandable with how they delt with people who think different back then.

To me the paintings are spiritual. About the things he saw.
Paintings tell a story by the clues left in them.

For example;
Painting

To me the woman with the child in the top left stand for the creator. The force that gave us life.
The angelic figure is a spirit guide, apperantly pointing to what needs attention.
The bird represents a protector, its keeping a close eye on the weird figure on the bottom right, reminding us we are not alone, we have protection.
The weird black figure is pretty obvious, it represents evil of any kind.
The church spire way back in the background represents getting as far away as possible from religion and society in general, they are probably misled.

I was born and raised in the city he was born and i've spent a lot of time staring at his paintings.
I am not in anyway a art historian, it's just what i see in them.

reply to post by locster


Hello locster.

Thankyou very much for your reply and your depiction of heironymus Bosch. Its been a year since i started this most read thread ha! I have read or should say am still trying to read some books about Heironymus.

I was in Venice earlier this year and was doing the tourist thing in the Doge Palace and in a glass case is a Bosch! I was gob smacked! Like I say its a recent interest, but my Mrs thought I was A bit over excitied.

I agree with all what you laid out in your message to me! My partner is interested in spiritual things and thinks he was nearly demented! You would at first glance I suppose. After finding out so little about Bosch's life its hard to try to create a persona apart from the dark side.

I have managed to find out he was a big part of your town back in the day and a God fearing man.

Any more information you can give would be great if you can dig up any more from your end. I'm curious as I think you are.

I don't think he was a god fearing man, i think he feared the god fearing people.
I think his paintings are riddled with clues, hidden so he wouldn't upset the god fearing people.
I believe he really did see the things he painted. Some astral adventures, some dire warnings.

Maybe you can post a painting, an we'll try and decode it together?

[edit on 19/7/09 by locster]

I am really excited to find this thread! I think H. Bosch has a lot to say if we could just understand his language. I would love to see a discussion of his work.

I would like to suggest this painting:

en.wikipedia.org...

The guy in the striped pants looks a bit like Christopher Walken. What do you think?

Do you think the skull and bones imagery are a hidden message, possibly fingering the murder ring?

What of the man holding the large purple key? It is said to be St. Peter, but historically, this is not possible as Peter was no where near when the crucifixion took place. They all ran for their lives.

What does the large key really represent?

Bosch was thought by many to be involved with the condemned and perhaps sexo-magic Christian heresy known as the Brethern of the Free Spirit, which had its heyday around his time. His painting "The Garden of Earthly delights" is said by many to have been comissioned as an altar for this group.

Others see mesoamerican (Aztec/Mayan) influence and symbolism in his art. Around that time, the first codexes of Aztec art from America were making their way through Europe (albeit in very limited circles) so he may have come across some of this imagery and been inspired by it.

I also thought some of his art resembles some Esoteric Asian art, that could have made its way to Europe via the silk road or other means.

Compare:

1) The Tenkawa Mandala, Medieval Japan

And

2) The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Bosch



[edit on 11/11/09 by silent thunder]

Originally posted by silent thunder


1) The Tenkawa Mandala, Medieval Japan

I only get the google page when I click your link

Originally posted by Alethea

I only get the google page when I click your link

I know, I'm sorry..for some reason I can't get it to link directly to the image.

If you are interested (and I find it interesting, personlally), try running a google search on "Tenkawa Mandala," "Tenkawa Mandara," or the Japanese characters: 天川曼荼羅

Notice the way in particular the shapes in the back of Bosh's paintings resemble the general vertical structures in the Mandala. Also, the woman being embraced by the fox in the lower-right-hand corner is almost exactly recapitulated in the Bosch picture by an embracing woman and man, in a very similar location relative to the rest of the composition, too.