The Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch died 500 years ago, and to commemorate the occasion, his hometown has assembled his first major exhibition there in at least a few centuries.
Especially in his larger works, Bosch depicts human depravity and divine punishment with a perverse, if not gleeful, imagination.
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The Last JudgmentCirca 1495-1505 (Groeningemuseum, Brugge, Belgium)
Bosch frequently worked on biblical themes, as in this folding diablerie, depicting a handful of good people at left, soon to get their reward: salvation. But he held a dim view of the majority: Witness the other panels, full of fools and sinners.
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For his wide landscapes packed with infernal machinery and invented monstrosities, Bosch has been credited as a powerful influence on 20th-century Surrealism.
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Everyday objects are repurposed, usually to cruel ends, while size and scale are shifted at the artist’s whim.
Demons, tormentors and other malefactors are often portrayed with animal parts (the heads of birds, the bodies of fish) or with misplaced (human) limbs.
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In the lower right corner of the central panel, a clog becomes a sailboat whose passengers seem reluctant to disembark.
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Rather than directly address the main theme of the work, many of Bosch’s background details play on Dutch phrases or customs of the day.
His squat reptilians seem to have an unlimited appetite for human flesh.
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The Haywain1510-16. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
Like the “Last Judgment” above, this triptych sketches the 16th-century moral universe in stark terms. Here it begins with a retelling of the Garden of Eden story in the left panel.
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At center is a hulking hay wagon (or haywain), then a common symbol in art of the fleeting and transient things in life, as opposed to the weightier matter of eternity.
As people frolic, fornicate and fight on the left side of the panel, a group of easily overlooked demons pulls the wagon toward the inferno at right.
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There to greet the sinners are hellhounds in many colors, as well as a pointy-booted fish-demon, partnering with a serpent.
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Hell’s concierge service, meanwhile, seems excellent, with an enviable demon-to-damned ratio.
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And in case you were wondering, Bosch’s demons are capable of more than just torturing fallen souls. These builders seem to be expanding hell’s capacity for future generations of unfortunates.
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Triptych of the Hermit SaintsCirca 1495-1505. Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.
Saints and hermits were depicted heroically in Bosch’s works, as models for lesser mortals to emulate, prized for their ability to deny the appetites of the flesh, even in the face of temptation.
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In the left panel, St. Anthony the Abbot seems wholly untempted by a nude woman and a fish-demon pouring wine.
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These demonic figures below St. Anthony seem resigned to his lack of interest.
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In the central panel, St. Jerome prays in what appears to be the ruins of a church.
Not a demon in sight.
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In the right panel, St. Giles retains his faith despite the arrow stuck in his chest — intended for the fawn at his feet.
A great many of Bosch’s known works have survived only in copies or fragments, including straightforward works that depict a much more wholesome message of faith.
As with certain other renowned artists, when Bosch was good, he was very good. But when he was bad, he was better.
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“Hieronymus Bosch: Visions of Genius” runs at the Noordbrabants Museum in ’S-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, through May 8. The works will then travel to the Prado in Madrid, for an even larger exhibition called “Bosch: The Centenary Exhibition,” running May 31 through Sept. 11. (The Prado show will also include Bosch’s most famous work, “The Garden of Earthly Delights.”)