HIĖRONYMUS BOSCH (+1516)
THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS Hiėronymus Bosch shows us how we mortal souls, arisen from earthly paradise, are on our way to the atrocious ordeals of hell via our unchaste lives on earth. The dark painting on the closed panels shows the Creation, surrounded by water, in accordance with mediaeval traditions.

JB13                               h. 24,0 cm


THE PARADISE FOUNTAIN This splendid exotic fountain is situated amidst a blissful paradisiacal scene. Its design is alienating, almost extraterrestrial. In the hole, placed exactly in the middle of the left panel, we can see an owl as a contemplative central figure. Placed in the forefront, Christ introduces Adam to his future wife. Bosch must have subsequently wondered whether, looking at the right panel, this was such a smart idea.
JB07                                 h. 6,5 cm


DEVIL ON NIGHT-CHAIR  It is presumed that somehow Bosch had knowledge of the Visio Tungdali, a twelfth century handwriting that describes a vision of a journey through hell. This was possibly the basis for this devil, crowned with a cauldron, symbolising the diabolical inferno fire. He is sat on a night chair, which offers him the possibility of excreting the gorged souls. His curious footwear in the shape of pitchers symbolises dipsomania.

JB 24    22 CM

 

JB01                               h. 13,5 cm

TREE MAN  Many recognise a self-portrait in one of Bosch's most famous hybrid creatures. The hollow space in the egg-shaped body offers space for a pub. All breaks adrift through the two boats in which the tree-shaped paws are situated. Music and dance may have lead to licentiousness, symbolised by the bagpipes on the headwear.

JB 21         23 CM


JB02                                 h. 6,5 cm

EARS WITH KNIFE  Two enormous ears, held together by an arrow and a knife jammed in between. Is there an allegorical mediaeval symbolism behind this, or are the horrible tortures one might expect in hell pictured here once more? Is the monogram on the knife an M of the B of Bosch? Maybe we will never know what Bosch ‘had between his ears’ when he was painting this picture.

JB 23                       29 CM
HELMETED BIRD MONSTER  This helmeted bird monster is carrying a pencil box and an inkpot in its beak, in which the nun, decaying into a pig, is dipping her pen. A severed foot is swinging from the bird's helmet referring to the horrible corporal punishments which could be expected in hell. The pig, indeed an indictment against the decay of clergy life, is tempting the man who is sitting beside him and it appears that he is drawing up a contract. Is the man possibly selling his soul? 
JB11                                 h. 6,0 cm




 

JB 22                     12 CM

JB14                                                                                   9 cm

Knight and Mermaid

The figure which is enveloped in a suit of armour, allows himself to be seduced by the mermaid, which was the ultimate symbol of seduction during the Middle Ages. Men succumb to her sweet singing and are being led astray from the path of virtue by their desires for sinful, illusive pleasures. Marked by the original sin which is caused by depravation of women, mankind becomes damned.
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