“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.”(Brainy Quotes) The concept of heaven, earth, and hell can be very contrasting. Ideas differ depending on religion, geographical location, and the culture you are surrounded by. In 1505, Hieronymus Bosch created The Garden of Earthly Delights. Hieronymus Bosch was born in Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands around the 1450s. Bosch came from a family of painters including his Dad, uncles, and brothers. In 1480, he married Alety Goyaerts den Meevenne, this led Bosch to become Catholic and joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady. A few of his first commissions came from this group, jump-starting his life as a world-renowned painter and soon creating The Garden of Earthly Delights. Bosch made a triptych or a painting with three panels. These panels depicted Christianity, Fantasy and invention, iconography, symbolism, and social and political environment.
The social and political environment establishes a critically significant role in this piece. The art movement before and during this piece created a standpoint of the outcome of this painting. The International Gothic Style lasted from 1375 till 1450. This movement smoothed away any odd natural forms creating delicate and elegant pieces. The style exerted a substantial influence on Early Renaissance art and the Netherlandish Renaissance. The Netherlandish Renaissance represents a movement of fine art painting. Which occurred in Flanders and Holland during the 15th and 16th centuries. They tended to be more down to earth meaning not containing a real filter on what they created and to be more realistic. In The Garden of Earthly Delights, on the right panel, there is no filter (1a).In this panel we can see visions of Hell, if indeed that’s what Bosch intended here, are pretty tame in comparison to this. Against a background of darkness, prison-like city walls are etched into by dark black ink against areas of flame, and everywhere human bodies huddle in groups, amass in armies, or are in strange overrefinement at the hands of executioners and animal beast-like demons. (Khan Academy) This social and political environment helped create and influence the paintings of The Garden of Earthly Delights. This steers me to my following subject.
The religious symbolism of the Bible determined the outcome of this painting. During this time religious differences between the Catholic Church(southern Europe) and northern Europe led to differences in art. Northern painters in the 16th century increasingly looked to Rome for influence and became notable as the Romanists. The High Renaissance art of Michelangelo and Raphael and the stylistic tendencies of Mannerism also had a vast impact on their work. In the north, there was no relationship with the creators of the Classical past. The Northern Renaissance style evolved gradually out of the late Middle Ages. (History Studies) In the painting, with the use of symbolism, on an area on the right panel, diabolical creatures slashed a man in the back and impaled a heart on a sword, as well as dice and board. (2b)This symbolizes the devil as he will never perform what you want and stab you in the back. When following the devil, it is like repeatedly playing dice but his dice are loaded so that you will never win. Furthermore, a strawberry fruit appears several times in the central panel. It permits Bosch to reference other kinds of imagery: in one section, people gather apples from trees whilst a man offers a strawberry to a female with a leering expression, a twist on biblical depictions of Eden. (BBC) (3c) This leads me to my thoughts.
The personal perspective I have on this painting is very impactful to me. Bosch gives a sense of reality which leads me to understand more and be more down to earth as I should be. His work expresses freedom of speech during topics that some do not like and was socially and politically unheard of. His line, when painting, was rawer and had smoother lines when people did not feel right to think out of the box. This makes me feel that I should be more open to new ideas. As well as realizing that it is ok not to be normal in society in the world we live in that is very stereotypical and hypocritical. With all of this put together, this painting has a lot of meaning which leads me to my final statement.
In conclusion, the triptych Hymernius Bosch made, The Garden of Earthly Delights, contributed many different aspects of religion and symbolism of the Bible including deceptions of Eden. The social and political environment with the art movements included the Internal Gothic period which was before the painting was created and the current art period of the painting the Netherlandish Renaissance. His works will be forever remembered and looked upon for eternity.
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Symbolism in ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hymernius Bosch.
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