Jheronimus Bosch

Samenvatting

This important new work provides the clearest and most complete introduction available to the visionary art of Bosch, replete with splendid reproductions of all the paintings and drawings in Bosch's core oeuvre. In his illuminating and always original text, art historian Gary Schwartz provides concise interpretations of every work, including commentary on many of the most extraordinary details for which Bosch is acclaimed. With copious amounts of new information and his own fresh insights, Schwartz paints a vivid picture of the artist's life and work. The question often asked about the remarkable artist who created the Garden of Delights, The Haywain, the Temptation of St. Anthony and the Last Judgment is where he saw the stunning apparitions that fill his panels. Did he suffer from alcoholic nightmares? Did they have hallucinogenic mushrooms in his town of 's-Hertogenbosch? This impressive volume offers answers of a different kind. As the author sees it, Bosch's strange images were not intended by him to be deciphered but, in the words of an admirer from his own century, "to confuse, worry and disturb" the viewer. Like every Christian believer of his age, Bosch was deeply imbued with the conviction that the natural world was not as real as it seemed. He believed that imps and demons inhabited the earth and stood in waiting to torment sinners after their death. Bosch was a Catholic cleric himself, a role that made him an exorcist. He put his formidable imagination to work to envision the heavenly and infernal realities of the spiritual world and the hereafter. This singular book, published for the 500th anniversary of Bosch's death, not only covers Bosch's oeuvre in full but includes chapters on society, government, and faith in mid-millennium Brabant. Everything is arranged for optimal ease of use, in clear sections with navigational aids. The brilliantly designed double spreads make sure that each tells a complete story. The clear language, accessible style, and beautiful reproductions make it essential for anyone interested in the life and art of Bosch.