Hieronymus Bosch: biography. Hieronymus Bosch: what was the artist who painted monsters like?

Bosch's work, naive and sophisticated, traditional and innovative, still fascinates the world with a sense of some kind of mystery known to one artist. And we don’t know very much about Bosch himself. Time has preserved only the date of death - August 9, 1516. “Eminent master” - that’s what they called him in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, to whom he remained faithful until the end of his days, although his lifetime fame spread far beyond hometown. And after death, it increased immeasurably and, at least for a whole century, did not decrease: the master’s art found an ardent admirer in the person of Philip II, King of Spain.

The vivid authenticity of Bosch's works, the ability to depict the movements of the human soul, the amazing ability to draw a rich man and a beggar, a merchant and a cripple - all this gives him a very important place in the development of genre painting. Of course, even earlier, before Bosch, individual motifs of everyday life could be found in miniatures of Dutch month books. In this sense, the origins of Bosch’s work are exactly the same as those of the founder of the tradition oil painting Jan van Eyck (1390s-1441). Bosch cannot be called a pioneer, but for the first time the everyday world of man entered into oil painting, seen so freshly and unexpectedly. Let's say more, the role of the artist was decisive for the subsequent flourishing Dutch painting, considering the influence he had on Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The landscape takes on a new and significant meaning in his work. The first independent depiction of a natural landscape in the history of Dutch painting is on the outer doors of the altar “Gardens of Earthly Delights”. Bosch paints the world as it would have looked on the third day of Creation. This bold and unusual decision greatly distinguishes him from his contemporaries, for example from the Antwerp master Joachim Patinir (1475/80-1524), the founder of the landscape school of painting. Bosch's vast background panoramas, conveying the endless expanses of his homeland, are unique. They reveal the extraordinary freedom of his artistic vision.

However, even today Bosch is glorified not only as a wonderful landscape painter and artist, skillfully and in his own way depicting the life of people and their customs. Bosch's painting is prophetic. Imagination is fantastic. The pictures of Hell painted by him are essentially pages of the Apocalypse. It takes great courage to show the smallest details and details of disgusting, grotesque scenes the way he does. Of course, the theme of Hell has previously occupied a significant place in literature and fine art. Bosch, as it were, sums up this long-standing medieval tradition, acting completely in line with it. But no one before him had managed to show such supernatural ingenuity and achieve such expressiveness in depicting seemingly familiar subjects.

In our time, after surrealism has turned from a fashionable movement into a subject artistic research and won all the rights of citizenship, the “Gardens of Earthly Delights” are especially surprising. This work by Bosch was admired in Spain already in the sixteenth century. In the central part of the triptych, among structures of the most bizarre shapes and outlines, crowds of naked people are depicted, in a state of blissful half-sleep among exotic animals and birds, whose size emphasizes the insignificance and insignificance of man. The meaning of this fascinating work has been revealed relatively recently. Bosch turns to that secret knowledge - astrology and alchemy - the significance of which was not taken into account for a long time by researchers of European culture. Bosch creates great art that does not fit into everyday consciousness.

And at the same time, thinking provincially, not going beyond the schemes of medieval ideas, Bosch expresses the views of the local circle of educated people with an orthodox worldview. These people were representatives of that long and slowly developing culture that would soon be swept away by the forces of the Reformation and replaced by the High Renaissance with its new tastes. This culture, with its belief in witchcraft and demons, and its constant fear of the curse of the Last Judgment, is most clearly manifested in the art of Bosch. But her non-involvement in the renewal movement makes the master’s work difficult for us to understand, no matter how much it fascinates us.

As is the case with many other Dutch artists of that time, almost no documents have survived that shed light on the artist’s biography. About thirty archival records have been discovered in 's-Hertogenbosch: from them it is clear that the painter's real name is Hieronymus (or in Dutch - Jeroen) van Aken. Bosch took a pseudonym for himself already in adulthood. It's difficult to explain somehow. We can only guess that the master's fame was not limited to 's-Hertogenbosch, since only part of the city's name is taken as a pseudonym - a rather rare case at that time. The Van Akens are hereditary artists. Bosch's grandfather, who died in 1354, also worked in 's-Hertogenbosch: he is credited with the "Crucifixion with the Mother of God" and "St. John with Donors" in St. John's Cathedral. There is, in addition, an assumption that Bosch’s relatives were miniaturists, but nothing from their works has survived to this day.

Undoubtedly, the atmosphere of the workshop or studio must have colored his very first, childhood impressions. It is not so important whether Bosch’s grandfather was the author of the frescoes in the cathedral. Another thing is important: the painting style in which Bosch worked already existed during his youth. And if we compare the early things attributed to Bosch with these frescoes, it becomes clear that artistic life's-Hertogenbosch flowed away from the main paths of development of painting in Flanders. Of course, in his work Bosch could not do without the achievements of Jan van Eyck, but it would be wrong to reduce his art to this or any other of his famous predecessors. He was interested in something completely different in painting.

Even technique Bosch has others. He is the first of the Dutch painters to whom, without stretching the line, a whole series of drawings can be attributed. These are preparatory sketches for large compositions, and sketches of sitters, made rather in the miniature technique than in the technique of contemporary painting. It must be assumed that the process of his work included several stages, and, apparently, much was lost irretrievably.

There are only about twenty pen or brush drawings, the author of which is undoubtedly Bosch. Some sketches are the fruit of his rich imagination, inspired by images of Gothic monsters. He could see them in engravings and in the margins of illuminated manuscripts or on church frescoes - the latter would soon be destined to perish when the waves of the Reformation swept over the Netherlands. In other drawings, he is an incomparable observer of life. This especially applies to sketches of beggars and cripples. Here Bosch is the direct predecessor of Bruegel. He is, by the grace of God, a writer of everyday life of the world around us, and no matter how strange and obscure his works may seem to us, we feel their complete plausibility and persuasiveness.

Bosch's surviving paintings include about thirty-five works. Exists great amount compositions written in his style - obviously, the workshop he led worked productively, there were enough students, and there were many simply imitators who knew how to imitate the master’s style. The presence of students is documented; The degree of participation of the master in a particular work still remains unclear.

The date of his birth is also unknown. It is believed that since 1475 Hieronymus Bosch can be considered as an artist in his own right. In 1481, he married a wealthy patrician, and we can say with confidence that the artist’s craft is flourishing and enjoys due respect in the eyes of his fellow citizens. According to some assumptions, Bosch's period of active creativity lasted more than forty years. But even if we take into account all the losses known and unknown to us, as well as everything that is attributed to him, the number of works he created turns out to be relatively small. Perhaps this is explained by the care with which he writes out every detail in his compositions. But it is difficult here to get rid of the feeling of something incomprehensible, beyond understanding.

The master does not always sign his works and never puts dates, and therefore the development of his own style can only be judged very roughly. Bosch has no qualms about avoiding large formats. That fragmentation and fragmentation in the depiction of human figures, which was his favorite technique, betrays his love for miniatures and his deep understanding of it. His best works, complex in composition and unique in the number of figures depicted, are encyclopedic in nature and require close attention to yourself. At the same time, some paintings, where figures are painted almost life-size, prove a readiness to accept new trends coming from High Renaissance. (Similar techniques were adopted by Quentin Masseys, a younger contemporary of Bosch, who worked in Antwerp.) But still, the main works for him are enlarged miniatures, painted in oil on wood - so, perhaps not quite usually, one can formulate the original the nature of his creativity, which combined erudition, on the one hand, and deep insight into the essence of Christianity, on the other.

Documents have been preserved linking the artist with the Brotherhood of Our Lady. Bosch is mentioned in one of the lists of 1486/87 along with other 353 members of the society. Somewhat later, he was invited to decorate the carved altar of Our Lady, and he was awarded for helping to choose the model of the cross. That Master Bosch was a respected member of the brotherhood is beyond any doubt.

The Brotherhood of Our Lady played a noteworthy role in the spiritual life of 's-Hertogenbosch. The Brotherhood had the same, if not greater, influence common life, which represented the reform movement of the "new piety". This brotherhood founded its own school in the city, where, soon after Bosch’s marriage, young Erasmus of Rotterdam spent about two unhappy years. The Brotherhood of Common Life, founded by Geert Groth about a century before the artist began his work, was sanctified by the authority of the church. The library contained books by St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and Thomas Aquinas. It has been proven that Bosch was greatly influenced by the writings of Jan van Ruysbroeck, the spiritual father of the movement. And there can hardly be any doubt that a man of such learning as Bosch did not reflect in his creations the ideas received in the brotherhood or taken from his school. Religiously deeply educated, inquisitive and inventive, Bosch was almost unpredictable in painting. His five masterpieces, if not completely original in concept, are at least unique in some aspects that are most essential for understanding the work. These are “The Seven Deadly Sins”, “The Hay Wain”, “The Adoration of the Magi”, “The Gardens of Earthly Delights” and “The Temptation of St. Anthony”. (The first four of them belonged to King Philip II of Spain at one time.)

The easiest ones to interpret are "A Wain of Hay" and "The Seven Deadly Sins." The last one, written in early period work for a functional purpose is defined as a tabletop or font finial. The composition of symmetrically located circles and two unfolding scrolls, where quotes from Deuteronomy prophesy with deep pessimism about the fate of humanity, is unique. In the circles are Bosch's first depiction of Hell and the singular interpretation of Heavenly Paradise. The seven deadly sins are depicted in segments of God's all-seeing eye in the center of the composition; they are presented in a distinctly moralizing manner.

The theme of his very first triptych, “A Wagon of Hay” (between 1490 and 1500), is the hopelessness and meaninglessness of the historical path along which humanity has taken

after the Fall. To better illustrate the futility of earthly aspirations, Bosch uses a Dutch proverb: “the world is a cart of hay, and everyone tries to grab as much as they can from it.” A huge cart is inexorably approaching Hell, driven by terrible monsters harnessed to it. No one before Bosch had resorted to such unbridled fantasy and grotesquery in order to express the cynicism of what was happening: the Pope himself and the emperor accompany this cart. On the left, the angel of the Lord expels Adam and Eve from Paradise, and, despite Christ’s atonement, the direct road to Hell from this moment on is impossible to avoid.

In The Adoration of the Magi, written for the donor and his wife, members of the Bronkhorst and Bosshuis families, the artist again draws attention to the ever-present forces of evil. He does this with the help original technique. The strange figure of a bearded man in the doorway of a dilapidated stable, as it turned out recently, is the Jewish Messiah, the Antichrist in the understanding of Bosch’s contemporaries, the last powerful opponent of Christianity, who should appear at the very end of the world.

The Antichrist and his champions inhabited the destroyed house of David, the apocrypha says. The influence of the Antichrist is not limited to his surroundings: the forces of evil are also personified by the shepherds who climbed onto the roof - at least, this can be assumed from their views. And even the Magi should be considered as adherents of the Antichrist. These figures symbolize the three kings of the earth, whom he encourages to begin last war. On the back of the fold, Bosch writes “The Liturgy of Gregory the Great,” during which the Passion of Christ is revealed to the saint. This also includes the scene of the suicide of Judas, the Antichrist's double. This scene is as unusual for depicting the Passion as the appearance of the Antichrist in the plot of Baptism, an event that is traditionally solemn and joyful.

The theme of The Temptation of St. Anthony is the triumph of Christianity over the forces of evil - this is the third, detailed triptych, written perhaps somewhat earlier than The Adoration of the Magi. The legend of the saint, the founder of monastic life, who curbed earthly passions and retired to the desert to lead the life of a hermit, was widespread. However, in Bosch, the figure of Christ in the center of the triptych is unusually small and difficult to distinguish, and the kneeling saint is depicted at a moment when he is exhausted by yet another struggle with sins. He fights with them, just as the artist himself fights. Bosch's inventiveness seems to know no bounds; every sin is personified in the form of a disgusting image.

In sharp contrast to this work is The Garden of Earthly Delights, a triptych created around 1504. This was the year when the Sun and Moon came together in the zodiac house of Cancer. Bosch's attention is drawn to the astrological phenomenon, with all its meanings and additional religious overtones. Mystical connections between astrology and Christianity were a long-standing tradition, also followed by Jan van Ruysbroeck, the spiritual father of the Brotherhood of Common Life. The conjunction of two planets - a symbol of the mystical marriage of Christ with the Ecclesia (Church) - takes the form of a heavenly marriage between Christ (Adam) and the Church (Eve) in the composition of the Earthly Paradise on the left wing of the altar. The Church Paradise (in the central part) is inhabited by the children of the planets Moon and Venus (later Venus was associated with Eve). Under their influence, people are in a state of love and bliss. Contrasted with all this is the image of Hell: the result of the negative influence of the same planets is drunkenness, debauchery and gluttony.

This work reflected a whole area of ​​medieval ideas and knowledge, mysticism and science, the presence of which in art for a long time was considered at least inappropriate. There was no other such painter in the time of Bosch and later who would have been so eager to find a synthesis of mystical knowledge and religious belief. This further emphasizes the isolation of the artist from the main path of development of art.

Bosch creates a new world for us, most of which can only be vaguely guessed at. The fact that the culture of secret knowledge brought to life an artist of such rich imagination is in itself surprising. The versatility of his creations, the depth of comprehension of the essence of man, combined with the accuracy of his observations, make his art immortal.

Hieronymus Bosch (Jeroen Anthony van Aken) is an outstanding Dutch painter who intricately combined in his paintings the features of medieval fantasy, folklore, philosophical parables and satire. One of the founders of landscape and genre painting in Europe.

Biography of Hieronymus Bosch

Jeroen van Aken was born around 1453 in 's-Hertogenbosch (Brabant). The van Aken family, which originated from the German city of Aachen, has long been associated with the painting craft - artists were Jan van Aken(Bosch's grandfather) and four of his five sons, including Father Jerome, Antonia. Since nothing is known about Bosch’s development as an artist, it is assumed that he received his first lessons in painting in the family workshop. The van Aken workshop carried out a wide variety of orders - primarily wall paintings, but also gilding wooden sculptures and even making church utensils. So " Hieronymus the painter", as he was first mentioned in a document of 1480, took a pseudonym after the abbreviated name of his hometown ( Den Bosch), apparently out of the need to somehow separate themselves from other representatives of their kind.

Bosch lived and worked mainly in his native 's-Hertogenbosch, which at that time was part of the Duchy of Burgundy, and is now the administrative center of the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. According to information about the artist’s life preserved in the city archive, his father died in 1478, and Bosch inherited his art workshop. He joined Brotherhood of Our Lady ("Zoete Lieve Vrouw" listen)) is a religious society that arose in 's-Hertogenbosch in 1318 and consisted of both monks and laymen.

The brotherhood, dedicated to the cult of the Virgin Mary, was also involved in works of mercy. IN archival documents Bosch's name is mentioned several times: as a painter, he was entrusted with various orders, ranging from the design of festive processions and ritual sacraments of the Brotherhood to the painting of altar doors for the Chapel of the Brotherhood in the Cathedral of St. John (1489, the painting is lost) or even a model of a candelabra. The funeral service of the painter, who died on August 9, 1516, was also held in the same chapel. The solemnity of this ceremony confirms Bosch’s close connection with the Brotherhood of Our Lady.

This was followed by training in the Dutch cities of Haarlem and Delft, where the young artist was introduced to the art of Rogier van der Weyden, Dirk Bouts, Geertgen tot Sint Jans, whose influence was later felt in different periods of his work. In 1480, Bosch returned to 's-Hertogenbosch as a free master painter.

The following year he married Aleid Goyaerts van der Meerwenne (Merwey). This girl from a rich and noble family brought a substantial fortune as a dowry to her husband, giving him the right to dispose of it at his own discretion.
Jerome's marriage was not particularly happy (the couple did not have children), but it gave the artist material well-being, position in society and independence: even fulfilling orders, he could afford to paint the way he wanted.

None of Bosch's surviving works are dated by himself.

Therefore, presumably, his first known paintings, which were satirical in nature, date back to the mid-1470s. Created in 1475-1480. the paintings “The Seven Deadly Sins”, “Marriage at Cana”, “The Magician” and “Removing the Stones of Stupidity” (“Operation Stupidity”) are of a pronounced moralizing nature with elements of irony and satire.

It is no coincidence that the Spanish King Philip II ordered the hanging of “The Seven Deadly Sins” in the bedroom of his monastery residence in El Escorial, so that in his spare time he could indulge in reflection on the sinfulness of human nature. Here one can still feel the uncertainty of the young artist’s stroke; he uses only individual elements of symbolic language, which will later fill all his works.

They are also few in number in the films “Operation Stupidity” and “The Magician,” which ridicule human naivety, which is used by charlatans, including those in monastic robes.

Bosch ridiculed the clergy even more sharply in the painting “Ship of Fools” (1490-1500), where a tipsy nun and monk bawled a song in the company of commoners on a fragile boat driven by a jester.

Sharply condemning the depravity of the clergy, Bosch was still hardly a heretic, as the modern German art critic V. Frengler argued. Although he sought his path to understanding God outside the official church.

Artist's creativity

Who would be able to tell about all those amazing and strange thoughts that wandered through the head of Hieronymus Bosch, which he conveyed with the help of a brush, and about those ghosts and hellish monsters that often frightened more than they delighted the beholder! — Karel van Mander. “The lives of remarkable Dutch and German painters”

Bosch's work began with painting details of various altars and chapels. One of the first outstanding works of Hieronymus Bosch was the painting of the altar doors in St. John's Cathedral. It should be noted that Philip the Fair, who later became the king of Castile, really liked this work.

Bosch was a cheerful and sociable person, but he rarely traveled outside his village of Oeroshort and not far from where he settled after his marriage.

Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch still remain a mystery to art historians. About 40 paintings are credited to him. There may have been more, but the artist never signed his works.

In addition to drawing, Bosch was engaged in making engravings and was a good blacksmith. He once did a huge glass painting in a church and also made an excellent metal frame.

Bosch's paintings hung in many royal courts and aroused the admiration of his contemporaries. Bosch's life ended on August 9, 1516, in the city where he was born.

The artist’s canvases often feature monsters, funny or devilish figures drawn from folk legends, allegorical poems, moralized religious literature, as well as the movements of late Gothic art. Works in Hieronymus Bosch's biography, such as Garden of Earthly Delights, confuse the allegories. However, the symbolism of these works is unclear and gives rise to different interpretations.

Bosch was interested in the grotesque, the diabolical, the rich and the deadly.

He was one of the first artists in Europe to depict scenes of everyday life in his canvases, although often with abnormal elements.

King Philip II of Spain collected some of Bosch's best creations. Temptation of St. Anthony" (Lisbon), "The Last Judgment" are frequently encountered themes in the artist's work. Other paintings by Bosch are on display in El Escorial, Brussels. Examples of "Adoration of the Magi" are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a museum in Philadelphia that also houses "Mocking of Christ".

Bosch's biography was deeply influenced by the work of Pieter Bruegel. In the 20th century, Hieronymus was perceived as a harbinger of surrealism. Bosch's works still impress modern artists. Bosch's paintings were often forged and the style copied. The artist himself sold only 7 paintings in his entire life. Over time, scientists began to attribute fewer and fewer works to Bosch's hand that had previously been considered his works. By the beginning of the 21st century, only 25-30 paintings have been named that are definitely the creation of Bosch.

His technique is called alla prima. This is an oil painting method in which the first strokes create the final texture. Based on the results of modern studies of Bosch’s work, art historians attribute it to the surviving heritage of Hieronymus Bosch 25 paintings And 8 drawings. The paintings are triptychs, fragments of triptychs and individual independent paintings. Only 7 of Bosch's works are signed. History has not preserved the original names of the paintings that Bosch gave to his creations. The names we know are assigned to the paintings from catalogues.

Researchers still cannot speak confidently about the creative evolution and chronology of Bosch’s works, since none of them have a date, but the formal development creative method does not represent a forward movement and is subject to its own logic, involving ebbs and flows.

• In view of the artist’s creativity and his unusual vision, it was customary among colleagues to call Bosch “an honorary professor of nightmares.”
• The artist's passion for painting came from his male relatives. He didn’t even have to study art in a specialized school - he acquired all his skills in his family’s workshop.
• Bosch was not poor. His successful marriage gave him a good fortune and position in society.
• The creations of Jerome cannot be called consistent with the spirit of that time. He primarily worked on religious themes. But at the same time, his vision of religion strongly contradicted what existed at that time. The strangest thing is that the Church accepted his paintings without any criticism, despite many nuances.
• Death famous artist shrouded in mystery. After all, his body was buried with solemnity and honor in the chapel of the church in his hometown. Centuries later, Bosch's grave was opened, but, to great surprise, it turned out to be empty, and did not contain the remains of either the artist or anyone else. Further excavations were hastily stopped after examining a fragment of a tombstone from his grave, which began to heat up and glow under a microscope.

Years Antonison Van Aken (Jeroen Anthoniszoon Van Aken), better known as Jerony Bosch (Nether. Jeronimus Bosch [ˌɦijeˈnimʏs ˈbɔs], Latin by hieronymus bosch; about 1450-1516) - Netherdish hereditary artist of the largest masters of the period of the northern revival . About ten paintings and twelve drawings from the artist’s work have survived. He was initiated into the Brotherhood of Our Lady (Dutch. Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap; 1486); considered one of the most mysterious painters in the history of Western art. In Bosch's hometown, the Dutch town of 's-Hertogenbosch, a Bosch Center has been opened, which displays copies of all his works.

Jeroen van Aken was born around 1450 in 's-Hertogenbosch (Brabant). The van Aken family, originating from the German city of Aachen, has long been associated with the painting craft - the artists were Jan van Aken (Bosch's grandfather, d. 1454) and four of his five sons, including Jerome's father, Anthony. Since nothing is known about Bosch’s development as an artist, it is assumed that he received his first lessons in painting in the family workshop.

Bosch lived and worked mainly in his native 's-Hertogenbosch, which at that time was part of the Duchy of Burgundy, and is now the administrative center of the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands. The first mention of Bosch in archival documents dates back to 1474, where he is called “Jheronimus”.

According to information about the artist’s life preserved in the city archive, his father died in 1478, and Bosch inherited his art workshop. The van Aken workshop carried out a wide variety of orders - primarily wall paintings, but also gilding wooden sculptures and even making church utensils. “Hieronymus the painter” (according to a document of 1480) took a pseudonym after the abbreviated name of his hometown - Den Bosch - during a period of change of power in the country: after the death of Charles the Bold (1477), power in the Burgundian Netherlands passed in 1482 from the Valois to the Habsburgs.

Around 1480, the artist married Aleit Goyaerts van der Meervene, whom he apparently knew from childhood. She came from a wealthy merchant family from 's-Hertogenbosch. Thanks to this marriage, Bosch becomes an influential burgher in his hometown. They had no children.

In 1486 he joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady ("Zoete Lieve Vrouw"), a religious society that arose in 's-Hertogenbosch in 1318 and consisted of both monks and laymen. The brotherhood, dedicated to the cult of the Virgin Mary, was also involved in charity work. In archival documents, Bosch's name is mentioned several times: he, as a painter, was entrusted with various orders, ranging from the design of festive processions and ritual sacraments of the Brotherhood to the painting of altar doors for the Chapel of the Brotherhood in the Cathedral of St. John (1489, the painting is lost) or even a model of a candelabra.

In 1497, his elder brother Gossen van Aken died. In 1504, Bosch received an order from the governor of the Netherlands, Philip the Fair, for the triptych “ Last Judgment».

The painter died on August 9, 1516, the funeral service took place in the mentioned chapel of the cathedral. The solemnity of this ceremony confirms Bosch’s close connection with the Brotherhood of Our Lady.

Six months after Bosch’s death, his wife distributed to his heirs what little was left after the artist. There is every reason to believe that Hieronymus Bosch never owned any real estate. Bosch's wife survived her husband by three years.

Bosch's art has always had enormous attractive power. Previously, it was believed that the devilry in Bosch’s paintings was intended only to amuse the audience, to tickle their nerves, like those grotesque figures that the masters of the Italian Renaissance wove into their ornaments.

Modern scientists have come to the conclusion that Bosch’s work contains a much deeper meaning, and have made many attempts to explain its meaning, find its origins, and give it an interpretation. Some consider Bosch to be something like a 15th-century surrealist, who extracted his unprecedented images from the depths of the subconscious, and when they mention his name, they invariably remember Salvador Dali. Others believe that Bosch's art reflects medieval "esoteric disciplines" - alchemy, astrology, black magic. Still others try to connect the artist with various religious heresies that existed in that era. According to Frenger, Bosch was a member of the Brotherhood Free Spirit, whose adherents were also called Adamites, a heretical sect that arose in the 13th century, but developed rapidly throughout Europe several centuries later. However, most scientists reject this hypothesis, since there is no evidence confirming the existence of the sect in the Netherlands during Bosch’s lifetime.

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Art historians confidently attribute only 25 paintings and 8 drawings to the surviving heritage of Hieronymus Bosch. There are many fakes and copies.

Bosch's main masterpieces, which ensured his posthumous fame, are large altar triptychs. Parts of the triptychs have also survived to this day.

After Bosch, many artists in painting created canvases based on the subjects of his paintings (for example, “The Temptation of St. Anthony”).

Hieronymus Bosch was born in the Netherlands in the city 's-Hertogenbosch around 1450.

His the present name - Jeroen Anthony van Aken. The artists were Bosch's grandfather Jan van Aken and four of his five sons, including Hieronymus' father, Anthony.

Jerome took pseudonym by the abbreviated name of his hometown (Den Bosch), apparently out of the need to somehow separate himself from other representatives of his kind.Bosch lived and worked mainly in his native 's-Hertogenbosch. There he joined the religious society Brotherhood of Our Lady.

Around 1480 artist gets married on Aleit Goyaert van der Meerveen. She came from a noble Hertogensbosch family. Thanks to her cash Bosch stands on par with richest people of their hometown. After death, the entire fortune of Aleit Goyaerts passed to her husband. They had no children.

For the Netherlands, at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries, difficult, terrible times. She ruled the country like at home, fierce Spanish Inquisition; later, under Philip II, the terrorist regime of the Duke of Alba was established. Gallows were erected everywhere, entire villages were set on fire, and the bloody feasts were topped off by the plague. Desperate people grabbed onto ghosts - they appeared mystical teachings, savage sects, witchcraft, for which the church persecuted and executed even more. For a whole century, indignation simmered in the Netherlands, which then resulted in revolution. This was the era memorably described by de Coster in "The Legend of Till Eulenspiegel."

Netherlands and Italy in the 15th century they determined the paths of development of Western European art, but these paths were different: Italy sought to break with the traditions of the Middle Ages, the Netherlands preferred the path of evolutionary transformations. In Italy, a cultural revolution took place name of the Renaissance since it relied on the ancient heritage. In Northern Europe it is referred to as "new art". When you look at Bosch’s paintings, you find it hard to believe that he was a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Bosch did not use the method of working from life, was not interested in the problems of accurately depicting the human body (anatomy, proportions, angles), as well as in constructing a mathematically verified perspective. Painters Northern Europe were still inclined to isolate the human figure from its surroundings, each figure and each object was supposed to be interpreted as a certain symbol. The main thing for Bosch was the content of his works, expression, emotional expressiveness.

Unlike others Dutch masters Hieronymus Bosch was focused on depicting not the righteous and Paradise - Heavenly Jerusalem, but the sinful inhabitants of the earth. Some of his works (“Hay Wagon”, “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, “The Seven Deadly Sins”, “The Temptation of St. Anthony” and a number of others) have no analogues either in contemporary art or in the art of previous times.
Bosch created a special world of images where evil and suffering reign. This world, inhabited by sinners, disgusting monsters, demons, appears before us as the “Kingdom of the Antichrist”, “New Babylon”, deserving of destruction and death.

Bosch is an atypical artist in the panorama of Dutch painting and one of a kind in European painting XV century.

Previously it was believed that "devilry" in Bosch’s paintings, it is intended only to amuse the audience, to tickle their nerves, like those grotesque figures that the masters of the Italian Renaissance wove into their ornaments. Modern scientists have come to the conclusion that Bosch’s work contains a much deeper meaning, and have made many attempts to explain its meaning, find its origins, and give it an interpretation. Some consider Bosch to be something like 15th century surrealist, who extracted his unprecedented images from the depths of the subconscious, and, calling his name, they invariably remember Salvador Dali. Others believe that Bosch's art reflects medieval "esoteric disciplines" - alchemy, astrology, black magic.

Most of the subjects of Bosch's paintings are associated with episodes from the life of Christ or saints opposing vice, or are gleaned from allegories and proverbs about human greed and stupidity.

His technique called "a la prima". This is an oil painting method in which the first strokes create the final texture.

Most full meeting the artist's works are kept in the museum Prado.

Reviews of Bosch in the literature of the 16th century. are quite few in number, and the authors pay attention primarily to the presence in his paintings of various monsters and demons, to the incredible combination of parts of the human body, plants and animals, called “evil spirits” by one Venetian.

For Bosch's contemporaries, his paintings had much more meaning than for a modern viewer. Medieval people received the necessary explanations for the plots from a variety of symbols that abound in Bosch’s paintings.

A significant number of Bosch's symbols are alchemical. The alchemical stages of transformation are encrypted in color transitions; jagged towers, trees hollow inside, fires, being symbols of Hell, at the same time hint at fire in the experiments of alchemists; a sealed vessel or a smelting furnace are also emblems black magic and the devil.

Bosch also uses what was generally accepted in the Middle Ages bestiary symbolism- “unclean” animals: in his paintings meet camel, hare, pig, horse, stork and many others. Toad, in alchemy, denoting sulfur, is a symbol of the devil and death, like everything dry - trees, animal skeletons.

Other frequently encountered symbols:

inverted funnel - attribute fraud or false wisdom;

owl- in Christian paintings can be interpreted not in the ancient mythological sense (as a symbol of wisdom). Bosch depicted an owl in many of his paintings; he sometimes introduced it in contexts to persons who behaved treacherously or indulged in mortal sin. Therefore, it is generally accepted that the owl serves evil as a night bird and predator and symbolizes stupidity, spiritual blindness and ruthlessness of everything earthly.

Bosch's painting style is a lot copied as soon as it became clear that this guaranteed a profitable sale of the paintings. Bosch himself oversaw the making of copies of some of his works,

The central part of the triptych “The Temptation of Saint Anthony”. National Museum ancient art, Lisbon

In the central part of the triptych, the space is literally teeming with fantastic, implausible characters. The white bird has been transformed into a real winged ship sailing the sky.

Central scene - committing black mass. Here, exquisitely dressed female priests perform a blasphemous service, they are surrounded by a motley crowd: after the cripple, a mandolin player in a black cloak with a boar’s snout and owl on the head (the owl here is a symbol of heresy).

From the huge red fruit(indicating a phase of the alchemical process) a group of monsters appears, led by a demon playing a harp - an obvious parody of an angelic concert. The bearded man in the top hat shown in the background is believed to be warlock, who leads a crowd of demons and controls their actions. And the demon musician saddled a strange suspicious creature, reminiscent of a huge plucked bird, shod in wooden shoes.

The lower part of the composition is occupied by strange ships. The demon floats to the sound of singing headless duck, another demon looks out of the window where the duck’s neck was.

Another of Bosch's most famous paintings is part of a triptych called "Ship of Fools." The painting was the upper part of the wing of an unsurvived triptych, the lower fragment of which is now considered to be “An Allegory of Gluttony and Voluptuousness.”

The ship traditionally symbolized the Church, leading the souls of believers to the heavenly pier. In Bosch, a monk and two nuns are wandering around on a ship with the peasants - a clear hint of the decline of morals both in the Church and among the laity. The fluttering pink flag depicts not a Christian cross, but a Muslim crescent, and an owl peeks out from among the foliage. The nun plays the lute and both sing, and maybe they try to grab with their mouth a pancake hanging on a cord, which is set in motion by a person with his hand raised up. The lute, depicted on the canvas as a white instrument with a round hole in the middle, symbolizes the vagina, and playing it means debauchery (in the language of symbols, bagpipes were considered the male equivalent of the lute). The sin of lust is also symbolized by traditional attributes - a dish with cherries and a metal jug of wine hanging overboard. The sin of gluttony is unambiguously represented by the characters of the merry feast, one of whom reaches with a knife towards a roast goose tied to the mast; another, in a fit of vomiting, hung overboard, and the third rowed with a giant ladle like an oar. The monk and nun enthusiastically sing songs, not knowing that the Ship of the Church has turned into its antipode - the Ship of Evil, rudderless and sailing, dragging souls to Hell. The ship is an outlandish structure: its mast is a living tree covered with leaves, and a broken branch serves as its rudder. Opinions have been expressed that the mast in the form of a tree corresponds to the so-called maypole, around which folk festivals take place in honor of the arrival of spring - the time of year when both the laity and the clergy tend to transgress moral prohibitions.

There are no works by Bosch in the Hermitage, but there is a small painting “Hell” * from the beginning of the 16th century - the work of an unknown follower of the great artist.

In the middle of the 16th century, several decades after Bosch's death, a widespread movement began to revive bizarre creatures of fantasy Dutch painter. This hobby lasted for several decades. Success engravings made by motives of Bosch’s “evil spirits”, immediately brought to life all sorts of imitations and replicas (even conscious fakes). All these images were at least partially in the spirit of Bosch - with an abundance of wonderful and monstrous creatures. Particularly successful were engravings illustrating proverbs and scenes from folk life. Even Pieter Bruegel deliberately used Bosch’s name for commercial purposes, “signing” engravings made based on the master’s drawings, which immediately increased their value.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Seven Deadly Sins.

It is difficult to judge how much the artist was understood by his contemporaries. It is only known that during Bosch’s lifetime his works enjoyed wide popularity.
The greatest interest in the artist’s work showed in Spain and Portugal. The largest collections of his paintings were formed there. The fantastic, scary scenes of Bosch’s paintings were close and interesting to the Spanish viewer, filled with religious feelings.

IN last years life artist draws exclusively to stories about Christ(“Adoration of the Magi”, “Crown of Thorns”, "Carrying the Cross"). In them, he moves away from depicting fantastic monsters of the underworld, but the real images of executioners and witnesses to the tragedy that replaced them - evil or indifferent, cruel or envious - are much more terrible than Bosch's fantasies. In the painting “Christ Carrying the Cross,” Christ seems unable to look at this raging orgy of evil; he is depicted with his eyes closed. It was last piece Bosch.

Carrying the cross. 1490-1500. Museum of Fine Arts. Ghent

The central part of the triptych represents a panorama of the fantastic "garden of love" inhabited by many naked figures of men and women, unprecedented animals, birds and plants. Lovers shamelessly indulge lovemaking in ponds, in incredible crystal structures, are hidden under the skin of huge fruits or in the shell flaps. This magnificent painting resembles a bright carpet woven from shining and delicate colors. But this beautiful vision is deceptive, for behind it lies sins and vices, presented by the artist in the form of numerous characters, borrowed from folk beliefs, mystical literature and alchemy. The picture "depicts strange birds: very realistic, but incredibly gigantic-sized creatures, against which they swarm tiny naked people. Although there seems to be nothing wrong with the depiction of these birds, they produce creepy impression. It is enhanced by the sight of a huge red berries, brought in the beak of one of the birds.

Or the so-called melancholic monster: the “legs” consist of tree trunks, and the “body” is a cracked egg. In the gaping hole, as in a dark abyss, a tavern filled with drinking and chewing people is visible. You can spend hours looking at what each of the figures idly having fun inside is doing. And when you move further away, you notice that the egg-shaped creature has its own “face” - a mask frozen in patient anticipation, which seems to be ready at any moment to absorb this little world contained within it.

A Spanish monk was the first to try to decipher this work in 1605. He believed that it contained collective image the earthly life of a person who is mired in sinful pleasures and has forgotten about the pristine beauty of the lost paradise and is therefore doomed to death in hell.

Removing the stone of stupidity. 1475-1480. Prado. Madrid

Artist's grave, located in his hometown in the chapel of the Church of St. John, painted by him, centuries later added to the list of secrets associated with his name . During archaeological work in the temple, it turned out that the burial was empty. Hans Gaalfe, who led the excavations in 1977, told reporters that he came across a flat stone, not like the usual granite or marble from which tombstones were made. Studies of the material led to an unexpected result: a fragment of stone placed under a microscope began to glow faintly, and the temperature of its surface suddenly increased by more than three degrees. Despite the fact that no external influence was exerted on him.

The Church intervened into research and demanded an urgent end to the abuse: since then Bosch's grave in St. John's Cathedral is inviolable. It only has the name of the artist and the years of his life engraved on it: 1450-1516. And above the grave is a fresco of his hand: a crucifix, illuminated by a strange greenish light.

Still, it is better to judge Bosch by his works. They are indeed full of mysteries: their inhabited by myriads of fantastic creatures, as if born on other planets or in parallel worlds. The fog covering the life of the great painter has provoked in our time a considerable amount of literary and historical speculation. He was ranked among the sorcerers and magicians, heretics and alchemists engaged in the search for the philosopher's stone, and was even accused of secretly conspiring with himself. Satan, who, in exchange for an immortal soul, gave him a special talent to look into other worlds and skillfully depict them on canvas.

A special place in his work occupies End of the world: a plot in which his contemporaries not only believed - they were waiting for it. Nevertheless, in Bosch’s paintings he is strikingly far from church dogma. Thus, in one of the cathedrals of 's-Hertogenbosch, painted by Bosch, mysterious fresco: Crowds of righteous and sinners, with their hands outstretched, watch a green cone with a bright white ball of light inside rapidly approaching them. The dazzling white rays are especially noticeable against the background of the darkness that has engulfed the world. In the center of this ball looms a strange figure: if you look at it more closely, you will notice that it does not have entirely human proportions and is devoid of clothing. Many modern researchers, including the Dutch professor of history and iconography Edmund Van Hoosse, consider the fresco to be evidence that Bosch may have seen observed the approach of foreign technology to our planet with representatives of other worlds on board.

Others go even further. They believe that the artist himself was an alien from the depths of the galaxy and simply described on canvas what he saw while traveling through the vast Universe (something similar, by the way, is said about Leonardo da Vinci). For some reason, he stayed on Earth and left us a picturesque testimony that is not inferior to modern cinematic masterpieces like “Star Wars”...

Jeroen Antonison van Aken, better known as Hieronymus Bosch, is a Dutch Renaissance artist who combined fantastic, folklore, philosophical and satirical motifs in his paintings.

Childhood and youth

Hieronymus Bosch was born around 1453 in 's-Hertogenbosch (province of Brabant). His family, which originated from the German city of Aachen (where it got its surname), has long been associated with the creative industry. Jerome's grandfather, Jan van Aken, as well as four of his five sons, including the father of the future artist Anthony, were painters.

The Van Aken family workshop carried out orders for wall painting and gilding wooden sculptures and the manufacture of church utensils. It was probably in this forge of painting that Hieronymus Bosch received his first creative lessons. In 1478, when his father dies, Bosch becomes the owner of an art workshop.

The first mention of Jerome dates back to 1480. Then he, wanting to start his own business and separate himself from the Aken surname, took the pseudonym Hieronymus the painter with the surname Bosch, which comes from the name of his hometown.

In 1486, a turning point comes in the biography of Hieronymus Bosch: he enters the Brotherhood of Our Lady, a religious society dedicated to the cult. He performs creative work- draws up festive processions and rituals, paints the altar for the Chapel of the Brotherhood in the Cathedral of St. John. From this moment on, religious motifs run like a red thread through Jerome’s work.

Painting

First famous paintings Bosch, which are brightly satirical in nature, presumably date back to the mid-1470s. For example, in the period 1475-1480 the works “The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things”, “Marriage at Cana”, “The Magician” and “Removing the Stones of Folly” (“Operation of Folly”) were created.

These works hypnotize contemporaries. For example, King Philip II of Spain even hangs the painting “The Seven Deadly Sins...” in his bedroom to make reflections on the sinfulness of human nature more acute.

In the first paintings, Jerome ridicules people's naivety, their vulnerability to charlatans, including those in monastic robes. In 1490-1500, Bosch creates an even more brutal painting, “Ship of Fools,” which depicts monks. They sing songs surrounded by commoners, and the ship is steered by a jester.

Landscape also has a place in Bosch’s work. For example, in the triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights” Jerome depicts the world on the third day of God’s Creation. In the center of the picture are naked people, frozen in a blissful half-sleep, and around them are animals and birds, striking in their size.

The triptych “The Last Judgment” is considered the largest surviving work by Bosch. The central part depicts the Last Judgment itself, where the righteous are contrasted with sinners pierced by arrows and spears in a blue sky. On the left wing - Paradise in dynamics. In the foreground is the creation of Eve, in the middle is the scene of temptation and the apple of discord, and in the background is the cherub who drives them out of Eden. The right wing of the triptych depicts Hell.

Bosch gravitated towards presenting creativity through a triptych. For example, the painting “A Wagon of Hay” also consists of three parts. The central part depicts a maddened crowd dismantling a large cart of hay into bundles. Thus, the artist denounces greed.

In addition, on the canvas you can find pride in the image of secular and spiritual rulers, lust in loving couples and gluttony in a plump monk. The left and right wings are decorated with already familiar motifs - Hell and the Fall of Adam and Eve.

From Bosch's paintings one cannot say that he gravitated towards a certain genre of painting. His canvases reflected portraits, landscapes, architectural painting, animal painting and decor. However, Jerome is considered one of the progenitors of landscape and genre painting in Europe.

A distinctive feature of the work of Hieronymus Bosch is that he became the first of his compatriots who created studies and sketches before moving on to a full-fledged creation. Some of the sketches eventually saw the light of day in the form of paintings and triptychs. Often the sketches were a figment of the artist’s imagination, inspired by the images of Gothic monsters that he saw in engravings or church frescoes.

It is also characteristic that Hieronymus Bosch did not sign or date his works. According to art historians, only seven paintings were signed by the master. The names that the paintings have today may not have been invented by the author himself, but were preserved from museum catalogs.

Hieronymus Bosch created using the technique a la prima (from the Italian a la prima - “in one sitting”), which consists of finishing applying a layer of oil before it is completely dry. In the traditional painting method, the artist waits for a layer of paint to dry before adding the next one.

Personal life

With all the madness of his artistic ideas, Hieronymus Bosch was not alone. In 1981, he married Aleit Goyaerts van der Meerveen, whom he is believed to have known since childhood. She was from a rich and noble family and brought her husband a substantial fortune.

The marriage did not leave any descendants, but provided Jerome with financial well-being. From the moment of his marriage to Aleit, he took on those orders that brought him moral rather than material pleasure.

Death

The painter died on August 9, 1516. The funeral service took place in the same chapel of the Cathedral of St. John, which Bosch painted, being an adherent of the idea of ​​​​the Brotherhood of Our Lady. The cause of death, unlike Jerome’s work, cannot be called mystical - at that time the artist was 67 years old. However, centuries after the burial, historians testify to amazing events.

In 1977, the grave was opened, but no remains were found there. Historian Hans Gaalfe, who led the excavations, said that a fragment of stone was found in the grave. When it was placed under a microscope, it began to heat up and glow. Because of this interesting fact It was decided to stop the excavations.

Works

Bosch's works are kept in galleries and museums around the world - in the Netherlands, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, etc.

• 1475-1480 - "The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things"
• 1480-1485 - “Crucifixion with Donor”
• 1490-1500 - “Allegory of Gluttony and Lust”
• 1490-1500 - “Crown of Thorns”
• 1490-1500 - “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
• 1495-1505 - “The Last Judgment”
• 1500 - "Death of a Miser"
• 1500-1502 - “Cart of Hay”
• 1500-1510 - “The Temptation of Saint Anthony”
• 1505-1515 - “The Blessed and the Damned”