Synopses & Reviews
Renaissance radical: An earthly delight not to be missed In the midst of the realist-leaning artistic climate of the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance, Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450–1516) was more than an anomaly. Bosch’s paintings are populated with grotesque scenes of fantastical creatures succumbing to all manner of human desire, fantasy, and angst. One of his greatest inventions was to take the figural and scenic representations known as drolleries, which use the monstrous and the grotesque to illustrate sin and evil, and to transfer them from the marginalia of illuminated manuscripts into large-format panel paintings. Alongside traditional hybrids of man and beast, such as centaurs, and mythological creatures such as unicorns, devils, dragons, and griffins, we also encounter countless mixed creatures freely invented by the artist. Many subsidiary scenes illustrate proverbs and figures of speech in common use in Bosch’s day. In his Temptation of St Anthony triptych, for example, the artist shows a messenger devil wearing ice skates, evoking the popular expression that the world was “skating on ice”—meaning it had gone astray. In his pictorial translation of proverbs, in particular, Bosch was very much an innovator.
Bosch—whose real name was Jheronimus van Aken—was widely copied and imitated: the number of surviving works by Bosch’s followers exceeds the master’s own production by more than tenfold. Today only 20 paintings and eight drawings are confidently assigned to Bosch’s oeuvre. He continues to be seen as a visionary, a portrayer of dreams and nightmares, and the painter par excellence of hell and its demons.
Featuring brand new photography of recently restored paintings, this exhaustive book, published in view of the upcoming 500th anniversary of Bosch’s death, covers the artist’s complete works. Discover Bosch’s pictorial inventions in splendid reproductions with copious details and a huge fold-out spread, over 110 cm (43 in.) long, of The Garden of Earthly Delights. Art historian and acknowledged Bosch expert Stefan Fischer examines just what it was about Bosch and his painting that proved so immensely influential.
Synopsis
Renaissance radical: An earthly delight not to be missed In the midst of the realist-leaning artistic climate of the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance, Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450 1516) was more than an anomaly. Bosch s paintingsare populated with grotesque scenes of fantastical creatures succumbing to all manner of human desire, fantasy, and angst.One of his greatest inventions was to take the figural and scenic representations known as drolleries, which use the monstrous and the grotesque to illustrate sin and evil, and to transfer them from the marginalia of illuminated manuscripts into large-format panel paintings. Alongside traditional hybrids of man and beast, such as centaurs, and mythological creatures such as unicorns, devils, dragons, and griffins, we also encounter countless mixed creatures freely invented by the artist. Many subsidiary scenes illustrate proverbs and figures of speech in common use in Bosch s day. In his Temptation of St Anthony triptych, for example, the artist shows a messenger devil wearing ice skates, evoking the popular expression that the world was skating on ice meaning it had gone astray. In his pictorial translation of proverbs, in particular, Bosch was very much an innovator.
Bosch whose real name was Jheronimus van Aken was widely copied and imitated: the number of surviving works by Bosch s followers exceeds the master s own production by more than tenfold. Today only 20 paintings and eight drawings are confidently assigned to Bosch s oeuvre. Hecontinues to be seen as a visionary, a portrayer of dreams and nightmares, and the painterpar excellenceof hell and its demons.
Featuring brand new photography of recently restored paintings, this exhaustive book, published in view of the upcoming 500th anniversary of Bosch s death, covers the artist s complete works. Discover Bosch s pictorial inventions in splendid reproductions with copious details and a huge fold-out spread, over 110 cm (43 in.) long, of The Garden of Earthly Delights. Art historian and acknowledged Bosch expert Stefan Fischer examines just what it was about Bosch and his painting that proved so immensely influential."
Synopsis
In the midst of the realist-leaning artistic climate of the Late Gothic and Early Renaissance, Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) was more than an anomaly. Bosch's paintings are populated with grotesque scenes of fantastical creatures succumbing to all manner of human desire, fantasy, and angst. One of his greatest inventions was to take the figural and scenic representations known as drolleries, which use the monstrous and the grotesque to illustrate sin and evil, and to transfer them from the marginalia of illuminated manuscripts into large-format panel paintings. Alongside traditional hybrids of man and beast, such as centaurs, and mythological creatures such as unicorns, devils, dragons, and griffins, we also encounter countless mixed creatures freely invented by the artist. Many subsidiary scenes illustrate proverbs and figures of speech in common use in Bosch's day. In his Temptation of St Anthony triptych, for example, the artist shows a messenger devil wearing ice skates, evoking the popular expression that the world was "skating on ice"--meaning it had gone astray. In his pictorial translation of proverbs, in particular, Bosch was very much an innovator.
Bosch--whose real name was Jheronimus van Aken--was widely copied and imitated: the number of surviving works by Bosch's followers exceeds the master's own production by more than tenfold. Today only 20 paintings and eight drawings are confidently assigned to Bosch's oeuvre. He continues to be seen as a visionary, a portrayer of dreams and nightmares, and the painter par excellence of hell and its demons.Featuring brand new photography of recently restored paintings, this exhaustive book, published in view of the upcoming 500th anniversary of Bosch's death, covers the artist's complete works. Discover Bosch's pictorial inventions in splendid reproductions with copious details and a huge fold-out spread, over 110 cm (43 in.) long, of The Garden of Earthly Delights. Art historian and acknowledged Bosch expert Stefan Fischer examines just what it was about Bosch and his painting that proved so immensely influential.
-- "The Times, London"
Synopsis
Hieronymus Bosch (1450andndash;1516) is one of the most famous artists in the history of Netherlandish painting, if not the world. This new book explores his best-known paintings and drawings, revealing them as never before in amazing full-page close-up details. Organized by characteristic themes in Boschandrsquo;s work, such as faces, heaven and hell, the four elements, landscapes, and creatures both fantastic and monstrous, it offers exceptional views of masterpieces including
The Garden of Earthly Delights,
The Haywain Triptych,
The Temptation ofSt. Anthony, and
The Seven Deadly Sins. Till-Holger Borchert, an expert on Netherlandish art, guides readers through the painterandrsquo;s work in clear and accessible language and from less-familiar and surprising angles.
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Bosch in Detail is the latest in the successful series that began with Van Eyck in Detail and Bruegel in Detail.
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About the Author
Till-Holger Borchert is director of Musea Brugge, which comprises the museums and historic sites of Bruges, Belgium. A German-born art historian and specialist in Netherlandish art of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, he has curated a number of major exhibitions, including Memlingandrsquo;s Portraits, which traveled from Bruges to the Frick Collection, New York, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid. He is the author of
Van Eyck in Detail, also published by Abrams.
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