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Virginia Pitts Rembert

Bosch

Hieronymus Bosch was painting frightening, yet vaguely likable monsters long before computer games were ever invented, often including a touch of humour. His works are assertive statements about the mental illness that befalls any man who abandons the teachings of Christ. With a life that spanned from 1450 to 1516, Bosch experienced the drama of the highly charged Renaissance and its wars of religion. Medieval tradition and values were crumbling, paving the way to thrust man into a new universe where faith lost some of its power and much of its magic. Bosch set out to warn doubters of the perils awaiting any and all who lost their faith in God. His favourite allegories were heaven, hell, and lust. He believed that everyone had to choose between one of two options: heaven or hell. Bosch brilliantly exploited the symbolism of a wide range of fruits and plants to lend sexual overtones to his themes, which author Virginia Pitts Rembert meticulously deciphers to provide readers with new insight into this fascinating artist and his works.
95 printed pages
Copyright owner
Parkstone International
Original publication
2004
Publication year
2011

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Quotes

  • Tamara Eidelmanhas quoted9 years ago
    he Cathedral of Saint John in 's Hertogenbosch is called one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the Netherlands. It is known, as shown in records cited earlier, of Bosch's close association with the cathedral by virtue of his artistic contributions to its decoration.

    The cathedral had burned in the early part of the century and the repairs were still in progress in the painter's youth. He probably grew up watching the wood and stone carvers at work in the churchyard.

    The most obvious result of such an observation was his love of the chimeras and grotesqueries that enjoy self-sufficient life in his works. A more important contribution of Gothic art to Bosch, however, lay in its mode of expression.
  • Tamara Eidelmanhas quoted9 years ago
    Although he worked in oil paint as they did, he did not employ their elaborate glazing method and, perhaps, had no knowledge of it. His was an alla prima technique, which some people believe to be his application to oils of a fresco painting manner, conceivably resulting from his admiration for the frescoes in the cathedral of 's Hertogenbosch.
  • Tamara Eidelmanhas quoted9 years ago
    here were many other factors at work in the formation of Bosch's artistic modus. De Tolnay made the point that the artist's very originality in technique and ideation may have resulted from his physical isolation from the main artistic currents of his time. There is no record of his ever having traveled outside his hometown. If he had never seen the paintings of the great Flemish masters, his most immediate influences would be those found in a provincial town. The content of his paintings seems much closer to popular sources, such as illumination and incunabula, than to that of the Flemings.

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