~The Garden of Earthly Delights~

http://www.urbanaddiction.com/archives/garden small.jpg

http://www.nndb.com/people/808/000028724/

Hieronymus Bosch, or Joen van Aken; a name he is not commonly known for, was born in 1450-1516. Bosch was born to a family of Dutch and German painters. In 1436 a massive fire broke out and burned down around 4,000 houses, some say that this may be a contribution to Bosch's obsession with hell. Bosch usually used iconography, to imbed hidden meanings into his paintings. He lived in 's-Hertogenbosch, from where he took his name from.

Hieronymus Bosch had a very unique imagination, bringing to life in his paintings sin and human moral failings. In most of his works, he paints half man, half creature characters to invoke fear and to portray the evil of man. He was most famously known for his epic scenes, and symbolic features that were even obscure for his own time. Not only was he known for painting odd pictures of creatures, never seen by man, but he was fascinated in the Seven Deadly Sins. He found someway to incorporate them into all of his paintings. Because of his wide imagination, he was said to inspire the surrealist movement in the 20th century.

Creation of the World

The style that Hieronymus usually painted in is called a triptych. A triptych is a 3-part altarpiece which are usually used and displayed in Christian churches. Altarpieces usually are painted as scenes, depicting a story and is usually viewed from left to right, in chronological order. The painting usually has 2 panels surrounding the main scene, which the backs of the panels are usually painted, showing a finished picture for when the altarpiece is closed. Much like the picture on the right, when these shutters are closed, displays the third day of creation; inside the Garden of Earthly delights is the center panel.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/delight/

 The Renaissance was an age of reinvention, of something new, of art. One painting in particular executes some of the characteristics the Renaissance possesses. The Garden of Earthly Delights is an oil painting by Hieronymus Bosch, and is said that it was produced for the purpose of a noble family. The Garden of Earthly delights shows some of the true techniques distributed in the Renaissance age. This painting shows a quality, and a personality found in no other painting that I have seen. The Garden of Earthly Delights shows humanistic qualities, and individualistic qualities. All the people in this painting have a personality, and the way their painted you can tell what a certain person is feeling. In this painting there are 3 different sections, the first one is The Earthly Paradise (Garden of Eden), the middle section is the Garden of Earthly Delights, and the last section represents hell. You can tell that this is a take on how Bosch sees the world, you first start out being created in the Garden of Eden, then you live life, then eventually you go to hell.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Hieronymus_Bosch_-_The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights_-_The_Earthly_Paradise_(Garden_of_Eden).jpg

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/delight/delightc.jpg

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/delight/delightr.jpg

  He displays a great thirst for individualism, displaying for us some of  the things that were thought of as sinful and wrong at his time. His paintings pursue personality, telling us each their own story, rather than a blank and dull painting. His imagination runs wild with vivid colors and figures, each and ever character their own unique person, not one person looks alike. Bosch also painted a portrait of himself, usually seen as unprofessional. For Bosch to display such images Bosh shows more than ever in his paintings the deadly sin of lust. Back in the middle ages, it was  that if men gave into any sexual act it was seen as failing, and giving in to seduction. Hieronymus painted this picture right around the time that the Mona Lisa was. But, because of his vivid pictures of "dogma and doctrine" he was suspected of being associated with a heretical sect. Much of the art back then was reserved, or not very well painted. The people for instance didn't have the great features that Bosch displays. You can see the personality grow throughout his painting; seeing that the characters in the Garden of Eden aren't necessarily the best of quality, but at the end of the portrait the picture has life, and the people are fully developed. Hieronymus Bosch also painted a portrait of himself in this paintings usually seen at this time as being full of yourself but only because more important people were usually painted.