Painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights. The Garden of Earthly Delights

In 2016, it is difficult to name an artist whose name would sound more often than Hieronymus Bosch. He died 500 years ago, leaving behind three dozen paintings, where every image is a mystery. Together with Snezhana Petrova we will walk along the “Garden earthly pleasures» Bosch and try to understand this bestiary.

"The Garden of Earthly Delights" by Bosch (click to enlarge)

Plot

To begin with, none of the currently available interpretations of Bosch's work has been recognized as the only correct one. Everything that we know about this masterpiece, from the time of creation to the name, is the hypotheses of the researchers.

The names of all Bosch paintings were invented by researchers of his work.

The triptych is considered programmatic for Bosch, not only because of the semantic load, but also due to the diversity and sophistication of the characters. The name was given to it by art historians, assuming that the central part depicts a garden of earthly delights.

On the left wing is the story of the creation of the first people and their communication with God. The Creator introduces Eve to a stunned Adam, who has missed being alone to this day. We see heavenly landscapes, exotic animals, unusual images, but without excesses - only as confirmation of the richness of God's imagination and the diversity of living beings created by him.

Apparently, it is no coincidence that the episode of the acquaintance of Adam and Eve was chosen. Symbolically, this is the beginning of the end, because it was the woman who broke the taboo, seduced the man, for which they went to earth together, where, as it turned out, not only trials awaited them, but also a garden of pleasures.

However, sooner or later you have to pay for everything, as evidenced by the right wing, which is also called musical hell: to the sounds of numerous instruments, the monsters launch torture machines, where those who have recently sauntered through the garden of pleasures suffer.

On the reverse side of the wings - the creation of the world. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters. (Gen. 1:1-2).

Bosch, apparently, promoted piety with his work.

Picture on reverse side sashes

The headliner sin in the triptych is voluptuousness. In principle, it would be more logical to name the triptych "The Garden of Earthly Temptations" as a direct reference to sin. What seems to be an idyll to a modern viewer, from the point of view of a person at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. ekov was an obvious example of how one should not behave (otherwise - to the right wing, if you please).

Most likely, Bosch wanted to show the pernicious consequences of sensual pleasures and their ephemeral nature: aloe digs into naked flesh, coral firmly grips bodies, the shell slams shut, turning the love couple into their captives. In the Tower of Adultery, whose orange-yellow walls sparkle like crystal, deceived husbands sleep among the horns. The glass sphere in which lovers indulge in caresses, and the glass bell that shelters three sinners, illustrate the Dutch proverb: "Happiness and glass - how short-lived they are."

Hell is depicted as bloodthirsty and unambiguous as possible. The victim becomes the executioner, the prey the hunter. The most common and harmless objects Everyday life, growing to monstrous proportions, turn into instruments of torture. All this perfectly conveys the chaos reigning in Hell, where the normal relationships that once existed in the world are reversed.

Bosch helped copyists steal his stories

By the way, not so long ago, a student of the Christian University of Oklahoma, Amelia Hamrick, deciphered and transcribed for the piano a musical notation that she saw on the body of a sinner lying under a giant mandolin on the right side of the picture. In turn, William Esenzo, an independent artist and composer, arranged the choral arrangement and composed the words for the "hellish" song.

Context

The main idea that connects not only parts of this triptych, but, apparently, all the works of Bosch is the theme of sin. It was generally a trend at the time. After all, it is practically impossible for a simple layman not to sin: here you say the name of the Lord in vain, there you drink or eat too much, you commit adultery, you envy your neighbor, you fall into despondency - how can you stay clean here ?! Therefore, people sinned and were afraid, they were afraid, but they sinned anyway, and they lived in fear of God's judgment and from day to day they were waiting for the end of the world. The Church warmed up (in a figurative sense at sermons and literally at the stake) people's faith in the inevitability of punishment for violating God's law.

A few decades after Bosch's death, a massive revival movement for bizarre fantasy creations began. Dutch painter. This surge of interest in Bosch motifs, which explains the popularity of the work of Pieter Brueghel the Elder, was reinforced by the widespread use of engraving. The hobby lasted several decades. Of particular success were engravings illustrating proverbs and scenes from folk life.

Surrealists called themselves the heirs of Bosch

The Seven Deadly Sins by Pieter Brueghel the Elder

With the advent of surrealism, Bosch was taken out of storage, dusted off and rethought. Dali declared himself his heir. The perception of images from the paintings of Bosch has changed significantly, including under the influence of the theory of psychoanalysis (where without Freud when it comes to releasing the subconscious). Breton even believed that Bosch "recorded" on the canvas any image that came to his mind - in fact, he kept a diary.

Here's another interesting fact. Their Bosch paintings he painted in the a la prima technique, that is, he put the oil not in several layers, waiting for each of them to dry (as everyone did, in fact), but in one. As a result, the picture could be painted in one session. This technique became very popular much later - among the Impressionists.

Modern psychology can explain why Bosch's works have such an appeal, but cannot determine the meaning they had for the artist and his contemporaries. We see that his paintings are full of symbolism from opposite camps: Christian, heretical, alchemical. But what Bosch actually encrypted in such a combination, we will probably never know.

The fate of the artist

talk about the so-called creative career Bosch is rather difficult: we do not know the original titles of the painting, none of the paintings indicate the date of creation, and the author's signature is the exception rather than the rule.

Bosch's legacy is not to say that numerous: three dozen paintings and a dozen drawings (copies of the entire collection are stored in the center of the artist's name in his hometown's-Hertogenbosch). Glory in the centuries he was provided mainly by triptychs, of which seven have survived to this day, including the Garden of Earthly Delights.

Bosch was born into a family of hereditary artists. It is difficult to say whether he chose this path himself or did not have to choose, but, apparently, he learned to work with materials from his father, grandfather and brothers. He performed his first public works for the Brotherhood of Our Lady, of which he was a member. As an artist, he was assigned tasks where it was necessary to wield paints and brushes: painting everything and everything, decorating festive processions and ritual sacraments, etc.

At some point, it became fashionable to order canvases from Bosch. The list of the artist's clients was full of such names as the ruler of the Netherlands and King of Castile Philip I the Handsome, his sister Margherita of Austria, the Venetian Cardinal Domenico Grimani. They laid out round sums, hung canvases and frightened the guests with all mortal sins, hinting, of course, at the same time at the piety of the owner of the house.

Bosch's contemporaries quickly noticed who was now on the hype, picked up the wave and began to copy Jerome. Bosch came out of this situation specifically. Not only did he not throw tantrums about plagiarism, he even oversaw copyists! I went into the workshops, watched the copyist work, gave instructions. Yet they were people of a different psychology. Probably, Bosch made sure that there were as many canvases depicting diabolical images that frightened mere mortals as possible, so that people would keep their passions in check and not sin. And the education of morals was more important for Bosch than copyright.

All his legacy was distributed among relatives by his wife after the death of the artist. Actually, there was nothing more to distribute after him: apparently, all the earthly goods that he had were bought with the money of his wife, who came from a wealthy merchant family.

Triptych "Garden of Earthly Delights" - the most famous and mysterious of the works of Bosch. In 1593, it was acquired by the Spanish king Philip II, who liked the artist's work. Since 1868 the triptych has been in the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Garden of Earthly Delights Around 1500 Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

The central part of the triptych is a panorama of a fantastic "garden of love", inhabited by many naked figures of men and women, unprecedented animals, birds and plants. Lovers shamelessly indulge in love pleasures in reservoirs, in incredible crystal structures, hiding under the peel of huge fruits or in shells.

Beasts of unnatural proportions, birds, fish, butterflies, algae, huge flowers and fruits mingled with human figures.

In the composition of the Garden of Earthly Delights, three planes stand out:
in the foreground are "various joys". There is luxury pond and fountain, flowers of the absurd and castles of vanity.




The second plan is occupied by a motley cavalcade of numerous naked horsemen who ride deer, griffins, panthers and wild boars - nothing more than a cycle of passions passing through a labyrinth of pleasures.


The third (farthest) - is crowned with a blue sky, where people fly on winged fish and with the help of their own wings.
All these characters and scenes, taking place among intricate combinations of plants, rocks, fruits, glass spheres and crystals, are united among themselves not so much by the internal logic of the narrative as by symbolic connections, the meaning of which each new generation understood differently.
cherries, strawberries, strawberries and grapes, eaten with such joy by people, symbolize sinful sexuality, devoid of the light of divine love

birds become the personification of lust and debauchery, The love couple retired in a transparent bubble. A little higher, a young man hugs a huge owl, to the right of the bubble in the middle of the pool, in the water, another man stands on his head, legs wide apart, between which the birds have built a nest.
Not far from him, a young man, leaning out with his beloved from a pink hollow apple, feeds a monstrous bunch of grapes to people standing up to their necks in water.

fish - a symbol of restless lust,
the shell is feminine.

At the bottom of the picture, a young man hugged a huge strawberry. In Western European art, strawberry served as a symbol of purity and virginity.


The scene with a bunch of grapes in the pool is a sacrament, and a giant pelican, picking up a cherry (a symbol of sensuality) on its long beak, teases people sitting in the bud of a fantastic flower with it. The pelican itself symbolizes love for one's neighbor.
The artist often gives the symbols of Christian art a concrete sensual sound, reducing them to the material and bodily plane.


In the Tower of Adultery, which rises from the Lake of Lust, whose yellow-orange walls sparkle like crystal, deceived husbands sleep among the horns. The steel-coloured glass sphere in which lovers indulge in caresses is surmounted by a crescent-moon crown and pink marble horns. The sphere and the glass bell that shelters the three sinners illustrate the Dutch proverb: "Happiness and glass - how short-lived they are!". And they are also symbols of the heretical nature of sin and the dangers that it brings to the world.


The left side of the "Garden of Delights" depicts the scene of the "Creation of Eve", and Paradise itself glitters and shimmers with bright, sparkling colors.


Various animals graze among the green hills, against the backdrop of the fantastic landscape of Paradise, around a pond with a bizarre structure.
This is the Fountain of Life, from which various creatures emerge onto land.


In the foreground, near the Tree of Knowledge, the master shows the awakening Adam. Adam, who has just woken up, rises from the ground and looks in amazement at Eve, whom God shows him.
The well-known art critic C. de Tolnay notes that the surprised look that Adam throws at the first woman is already a step on the path to sin. And Eve, extracted from Adam's rib, is not just a woman, but also an instrument of seduction.
As usual with Bosch, no idyll exists without an omen of evil, and we see a pit of dark water, a cat with a mouse in its mouth (the cat is cruelty, the devil)

Several incidents cast a dark shadow on the peaceful life of animals: a lion devours a deer, a wild boar pursues a mysterious beast.
And above it all rises the Source of Life - a hybrid of a plant and a marble rock, a soaring Gothic structure set on the dark blue stones of a small island. At the very top of it is still a barely noticeable crescent, but already from inside it peeps out, like a worm, an owl - a messenger of misfortune.

The fabulous paradise of the central panel gives way to the nightmare of Hell, in which the excitement of passion is transformed into the madness of suffering. The right wing of the triptych - Hell - is dark, gloomy, disturbing, with separate flashes of light piercing the darkness of the night, and with sinners who are tormented by some kind of giant musical instruments.

As always with Bosch when depicting Hell, the burning city serves as a backdrop, but here the buildings not only do not burn, but rather they explode, throwing out jets of fire. The main theme is chaos, in which normal relationships are turned upside down, and ordinary objects.


In the center of Hell there is a huge figure of a monster, this is a kind of "guide" through Hell - the main "narrator". Its legs are hollow tree trunks, and they rest on two ships.
Satan's body is an open eggshell, on the brim of his hat, demons and witches either walk or dance with sinful souls ... Or lead people guilty of unnatural sin around a huge bagpipe (a symbol of the masculine principle).


Around the ruler of Hell, the punishment of sins takes place: one sinner was crucified, pierced with the strings of a harp; next to him, a red-bodied demon conducts a rehearsal of an infernal orchestra from notes written on the buttocks of another sinner. Musical instruments(as a symbol of voluptuousness and depravity), turned into instruments of torture.

A bird-headed monster sits in a high chair, punishing gluttons and gluttons. He put his feet in beer jugs, and a bowler hat is put on his bird's head. And he punishes the sinners by devouring them and then they plunge into the pit, the glutton is forced to continuously vomit into the pit, the monsters caress the conceited woman.

The gate of Hell represents the third stage of the fall, when the earth itself turned into hell. Items that previously served sin have now become instruments of punishment. These chimeras of bad conscience have all the specific meanings of the sexual symbols of dreams.
The harmless rabbit (in the picture it exceeds the size of a person) in Christianity was a symbol of the immortality of the soul and abundance. At Bosch, he plays the horn and lowers the sinner head down into the infernal fire.

Below, on an icy lake, a man balances on a large skate, which carries him to the ice hole. A huge key attached to the shaft by a monk betrays the latter's desire for marriage, which is forbidden for members of the clergy.
Helpless male figure fights the love molestations of a pig, dressed as a nun.


"In this horror there is no salvation for those who are steeped in sins," Bosch says pessimistically.
On the outer surface of the closed doors, the artist depicted the Earth on the third day of creation. It is shown as a transparent sphere half filled with water. Out of the dark moisture, the outlines of land protrude. In the distance, in the cosmic darkness, the Creator appears, watching the birth of a new world...

9 And God said, Let the waters that are under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it became so.
10 And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called seas. And God saw that [it] was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, herb yielding seed, fruitful tree yielding fruit after its kind, in which is its seed, on the earth. And it became so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein is its seed after its kind. And God saw that [it] was good.
13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
Old Testament Genesis 1
The format of the triptych is traditional for Dutch altarpieces, but the content shows that Bosch did not intend it for the church.

Introduction

It is this work of Bosch, especially fragments of the central picture, that is usually cited as illustrations, it is here that the unique creative imagination the artist shows himself to the fullest. The enduring charm of the triptych lies in the way the artist expresses main idea through many details.

The left wing of the triptych depicts God presenting Eve to a stunned Adam in a serene and peaceful Paradise. In the central part, a number of scenes, interpreted in different ways, depict a true garden of pleasures, where mysterious figures move with heavenly calm. The right wing captures the most terrible and disturbing images of Bosch's entire work: complex torture machines and monsters generated by his imagination.

The picture is overflowing with transparent figures, fantastic structures, monsters that have taken on flesh as hallucinations, infernal caricatures of reality, which he looks at with a searching, extremely sharp look. Some scientists wanted to see in the triptych an image of human life through the prism of its vanity and images of earthly love, others - the triumph of voluptuousness. However, the innocence and some detachment with which individual figures are interpreted, as well as the favorable attitude towards this work on the part of the church authorities, make one doubt that the glorification of bodily pleasures could be its content.

The Garden of Earthly Delights is an image of Paradise, where the natural order of things is abolished and chaos and voluptuousness reign supreme, leading people away from the path of salvation. This triptych by the Dutch master is his most lyrical and mysterious work: in the symbolic panorama he created, Christian allegories are mixed with alchemical and esoteric symbols, which gave rise to the most extravagant hypotheses regarding the religious orthodoxy of the artist and his sexual inclinations.

Federico Zeri

central part

At first glance, the central part is perhaps the only idyll in Bosch's work. The vast expanse of the garden is filled naked men and women who feast on gigantic berries and fruits, play with birds and animals, splash in the water and - above all - openly and shamelessly indulge in love pleasures in all their diversity. Riders in a long line, like on a carousel, ride around the lake, where naked girls bathe; several figures with barely noticeable wings soar in the sky. This triptych is better preserved than most of Bosch's large altar images, and the carefree fun floating in the composition is emphasized by its clear, evenly distributed light over the entire surface, the absence of shadows, and bright, saturated color. Against the background of grass and foliage, like outlandish flowers, the pale bodies of the inhabitants of the garden sparkle, seeming even whiter next to three or four black-skinned figures placed in this crowd. Behind the iridescent fountains and buildings surrounding the lake in the background, a smooth line of gradually melting hills can be seen on the horizon. Miniature figures of people and fantastically huge, bizarre plants seem as innocent as the patterns of medieval ornamentation that inspired the artist.

The main goal of the artist is to show the pernicious consequences of sensual pleasures and their ephemeral nature: aloe digs into naked flesh, coral firmly captures bodies, the shell slams shut, turning the love couple into their captives. In the Tower of Adultery, whose orange-yellow walls sparkle like crystal, deceived husbands sleep among the horns. The glass sphere in which lovers indulge in caresses, and the glass bell that shelters three sinners, illustrate the Dutch proverb: "Happiness and glass - how short-lived they are"

Charles de Tolnay

It may seem that the picture depicts the “childhood of mankind”, the “golden age”, when people and animals peacefully existed side by side, without the slightest effort, receiving the fruits that the earth gave them in abundance. However, one should not assume that the crowd of naked lovers, according to Bosch's plan, was to become the apotheosis of sinless sexuality. For medieval morality, sexual intercourse, which in the 20th century. finally learned to perceive it as a natural part of human existence, was more often evidence that a person had lost his angelic nature and fell low. At best, copulation was viewed as a necessary evil, at worst, as a mortal sin. Most likely, for Bosch, the garden of earthly pleasures is a world corrupted by lust.

Bosch is absolutely faithful to the biblical texts in his other works, we can safely assume that the central panel is also based on biblical motifs. Such texts can indeed be found in the Bible. Before Bosch, not a single artist dared to be inspired by them, and that is good reason. Moreover, they diverge from the generally accepted rules of biblical iconography, where only a description of what has already happened or what will happen in the future according to Revelation is possible.

Left sash

The left wing depicts the last three days of the creation of the world. Heaven and Earth have given birth to dozens of living creatures, among which you can see a giraffe, an elephant and mythical beasts like a unicorn. In the center of the composition rises the Source of Life - a tall, thin, pink structure, vaguely reminiscent of a gothic tabernacle, decorated with intricate carvings. Glittering in the mud gems, as well as fantastic beasts, probably inspired by medieval ideas about India, which captivated the imagination of Europeans with its miracles since the time of Alexander the Great. There was a popular and fairly widespread belief that it was in India that Eden, lost by man, was located.

In the foreground of this landscape, depicting the antediluvian world, is not a scene of the temptation or expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise (as in The Hay Cart), but their union by God. Taking Eve by the hand, God brings her to Adam, who has just woken up from a dream, and it seems that he is looking at this creature with a mixed sense of surprise and anticipation. God Himself is much younger than in other paintings, he appears in the guise of Christ, the second person of the Trinity and the incarnate Word of God.

Right wing ("Musical Hell")

The right wing got its name because of the images of the tools used here most in a strange way: one sinner is crucified on the harp, below the lute becomes an instrument of torture for another, the “musician” lying face down, on whose buttocks the notes of the melody are imprinted. It is performed by a choir of damned souls led by a regent - a monster with a fish face.

If an erotic dream is depicted on the central part, then a nightmarish reality is depicted on the right wing. This is the most terrible vision of Hell: the houses here do not just burn, but explode, illuminating the dark background with flashes of flame and making the water of the lake crimson, like blood.

In the foreground, a rabbit drags its prey, tied by its feet to a pole and bleeding - this is one of Bosch's favorite motifs, but here the blood from the ripped open stomach does not flow, but gushing, as if under the influence of a powder charge. The victim becomes an executioner, the prey becomes a hunter, and this is the best way to convey the chaos that reigns in Hell, where the normal relationships that once existed in the world are reversed, and the most ordinary and harmless objects of everyday life, growing to monstrous sizes, turn into instruments of torture. They can be compared with gigantic berries and birds in the central part of the triptych.

The literary source of Bosch's Hell of musicians is considered to be the work " Vision of Tundal”(see link below), published in 's-Hertogenbosch in the city, describing in detail the author's mystical visit to Heaven and Hell, from where, apparently, the image of an ice-covered pond comes from, along which sinners are forced to invariably slide on shaky sledges or skates.

On a frozen lake in the middle ground, another sinner balances uncertainly on a huge skate, but it carries him straight to the polynya, where another sinner is already floundering in icy water. These images are inspired by an old Dutch proverb, the meaning of which is similar to our expression "according to thin ice". A little higher, people are depicted, like midges flocking to the light of a lantern; on the opposite side, "doomed to eternal death" hangs in the "eye" of the door key.

The diabolical mechanism - an organ of hearing isolated from the body - is made up of a pair of giant ears pierced by an arrow with a long blade in the middle. There are several interpretations of this fantastic motive: according to some, this is a hint of human deafness to the words of the Gospel "he who has ears, let him hear." The letter “M” engraved on the blade denotes either the gunsmith’s brand or the painter’s initial, for some reason especially unpleasant to the artist (perhaps Jan Mostaert), or the word “Mundus” (“Peace”), indicating universal significance masculine, symbolized by a blade, or the name of the Antichrist, which, in accordance with medieval prophecies, will begin with this letter.

A strange creature with a bird's head and a large translucent bubble absorbs sinners and then overthrows their bodies into a perfectly round cesspool. There the miser is condemned to defecate forever with gold coins, and the other. apparently, a glutton - non-stop spewing eaten delicacies. The motif of a demon or devil sitting on a high chair is borrowed from the text “The Vision of Tundal.” At the foot of the throne of Satan, next to the flames of hell, a black demon with donkey ears embraces a naked woman with a toad on her chest. The woman's face is reflected in the mirror, riveted to the buttocks of another, green demon - such is the retribution for those who succumbed to the sin of pride.

External sashes

External sashes

Looking at the grisaille images from the outside, the viewer does not yet know what a riot of color and images is hidden inside. In gloomy tones, the World is depicted on the third day after God created it from the great emptiness. The earth is already covered with greenery, surrounded by waters, illuminated by the sun, but neither people nor animals can yet be found on it. The inscription on the left side reads: "He said and it happened"(Psalm 32:9), on the right - "He commanded, and it appeared"(Psalm 149:5).

Literature

• Battilotti, D. Bosch. M., 2000
• Bosing, W. Hieronymus Bosch: Between Hell and Heaven. M., 2001
• Dzeri, F. Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. M., 2004
• Zorilla, H. Bosch. Aldeasa, 2001
• Igumnova, E. Bosch. M., 2005
• Coplestone, T. Hieronymus Bosch. Life and creation. M., 1998
• Mander, K van. Book about artists. M., 2007
• Mareinissen, R. H., Reifelare, P. Hieronymus Bosch: artistic heritage. M., 1998
• Martin, G. Bosch. M., 1992
• Nikulin, N. N. The Golden Age Dutch painting. XV century. M., 1999
• Tolnay, S. Bosch. M., 1992
• Fomin, G. I. Hieronymus Bosch. M., 1974. 160s. Belting, Hans. Hieronymus Bosch: Garden of Earthly Delights. Munich, 2005
• Dixon, Laurinda. Bosch A&I (Art & Ideas). NY, 2003
• Gibson, Walter S. Hieronymus Bosch. New York; Toronto: Oxford Univ. press, 1972
• Harris, Lynda. The Secret Heresy of Hieronymus Bosch. Edinburgh, 1996
• Snyder, James. Bosch in perspective. New Jersey, 1973.

Links

• Paintings from the Prado Museum in the highest resolution on Google Earth
• "Garden of Earthly Delights" in the database of the Prado Museum (Spanish)

Hieronymus Bosch
Paintings
Fragments triptychs
Triptychs
Graphic arts	Hearing Forest and Seeing Field (c. 1500) Tree Man (1475-1516) Nest of owls (1455-1516) Two monsters (1470-1516) Turtle with a skull on its shell and a winged demon (1470-1516) Two Witches (c. 1450-1516) Sketches of monsters (1465-1516) Hive and witches (1455-1516) Witches (c. 1475-1525)
Paintings, attributed Bosch	Temptation of St. Anthony (1510) Head of a halberdier (c. 1500) Woman's head (c. 1500) Two male heads (c. 1475-1480) Saint James and the Magician (1550-1575) Baby worship (?) Adoration of the Magi (1500-1510) Death of a whore (1490-1510) Last Judgment(c. 1515) Magician (1475-1480) Concert (c. 1516)

Northern Gothic masterpieces
Painting	Altar of Trebon Diptych by Wilton Dortmund Altar Altar of Flémal Annunciation by Merode Ghent Altar Portrait of the Arnolfini Madonna by Chancellor Rolen St. Petersburg Annunciation Descent from the Cross Portrait of a Woman (Rogier) Melun Diptych Jacopo Tania Altar of the Seven Joys of Mary Vita Stwosz Altar Portinari Altar Carriage of hay The Garden of Earthly Delights Last Judgment (Bosch) Isenheim altar
Miniature

Art of the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries
The altar "The Garden of Earthly Delights" - the most famous triptych of Hieronymus Bosch, which got its name from the theme of the central part, is dedicated to the sin of voluptuousness - Luxuria. It is unlikely that the triptych could be in the church as an altar, but all three paintings, in general, are consistent with Bosch's other triptychs. Perhaps he did this work for some small sect that professed "free love." It is this work of Bosch, especially fragments of the central painting, that is usually cited as illustrations, it is here that the unique creative imagination of the artist manifests itself to the fullest. The enduring charm of the triptych lies in the way the artist expresses the main idea through many details. The left wing of the triptych depicts God presenting Eve to a stunned Adam in a serene and peaceful Paradise.

In the central part, a number of scenes, interpreted in different ways, depict a true garden of pleasures, where mysterious figures move with heavenly calm. The right wing captures the most terrible and disturbing images of Bosch's entire work: complex torture machines and monsters generated by his imagination. The picture is full of transparent figures, fantastic structures, monsters that have become hallucinations, infernal caricatures of reality, which he looks at with a searching, extremely sharp look. Some scientists wanted to see in the triptych an image of human life through the prism of its vanity and images of earthly love, others - the triumph of voluptuousness. However, the innocence and some detachment with which individual figures are interpreted, as well as the favorable attitude towards this work on the part of the church authorities, make one doubt that the glorification of bodily pleasures could be its content. Federico Zeri: "The Garden of Earthly Delights is an image of Paradise, where the natural order of things has been abolished and chaos and voluptuousness reign supreme, leading people away from the path of salvation. This triptych by the Dutch master is his most lyrical and mysterious work: in the symbolic panorama he created, Christian allegories are mixed with alchemical and esoteric symbols, which gave rise to the most extravagant hypotheses regarding the religious orthodoxy of the artist and his sexual inclinations."

At first glance, the central part is perhaps the only idyll in Bosch's work. The vast space of the garden is filled with naked men and women who feast on gigantic berries and fruits, play with birds and animals, splash in the water and - above all - openly and shamelessly indulge in love pleasures in all their diversity. Riders in a long line, like on a carousel, ride around the lake, where naked girls bathe; several figures with barely noticeable wings soar in the sky. This triptych is better preserved than most of Bosch's large altarpieces, and the carefree fun that soars in the composition is emphasized by its clear, evenly distributed light over the entire surface, the absence of shadows, and bright, saturated color. Against the background of grass and foliage, like outlandish flowers, the pale bodies of the inhabitants of the garden sparkle, seeming even whiter next to three or four black-skinned figures, placed here and there in this crowd. Behind iridescent fountains and buildings. surrounding the lake in the background, a smooth line of gradually melting hills can be seen on the horizon. Miniature figures of people and fantastically huge, bizarre plants seem as innocent as the patterns of the medieval ornament that inspired the artist.

It may seem that the picture depicts the "childhood of mankind", the "golden age", when people and animals peacefully existed side by side, without the slightest effort, receiving the fruits that the earth gave them in abundance. However, one should not assume that the crowd of naked lovers, according to Bosch's plan, was to become the apotheosis of sinless sexuality. For medieval morality, sexual intercourse, which in the 20th century finally learned to be perceived as a natural part of human existence, was more often proof that a person had lost his angelic nature and fell low. At best, copulation was viewed as a necessary evil, at worst, as a mortal sin. Most likely, for Bosch, the garden of earthly pleasures is a world corrupted by lust.

The canvases of the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch are recognizable for their fantastic plots and delicate details. One of the most famous and ambitious works of this artist is the triptych "Garden of Earthly Delights", which for more than 500 years has been controversial among art lovers around the world.

1. The triptych is named after its central panel

In three parts of one picture, Bosch tried to depict the entire human experience - from earthly life to the afterlife. The left panel of the triptych depicts heaven, the right - hell. In the center is the Garden of Earthly Delights.

2. The date of creation of the triptych is unknown

Bosch never dated his works, which complicates the work of art historians. Some claim that Bosch began painting The Garden of Earthly Delights in 1490, when he was about 40 years old (his exact year of birth is also unknown, but it is assumed that the Dutchman was born in 1450). And the grandiose work was completed between 1510 and 1515.

3. "Paradise"

Art critics claim that the Garden of Eden is depicted at the time of the creation of Eve. In the picture, it looks like an untouched land inhabited by mysterious creatures, among which you can even see unicorns.

4. Hidden meaning

Some art historians believe that the middle panel depicts people who have gone mad for their sins, who miss their chance to gain eternity in heaven. Bosch depicted lust with many naked figures engaged in frivolous activities. It is believed that flowers and fruits symbolize the temporary pleasures of the flesh. Some have even suggested that the glass dome, which covers several lovers, symbolizes the Flemish saying "Happiness is like glass - it breaks once."

5. Garden of Earthly Delights = Paradise Lost?

A rather popular interpretation of the triptych is that it is not a warning, but a statement of fact: a person has lost Right way. According to this interpretation, the images on the panels should be viewed sequentially from left to right, and not consider the central panel as a fork between hell and heaven.

6. Secrets of the painting

The side panels of the heaven and hell triptych can be folded over to cover the central panel. On the outer side of the side panels, the last part of the Garden of Earthly Delights is depicted - the image of the World on the third day after creation, when the Earth is already covered with plants, but there are no animals or humans yet.

Since this image is essentially an introduction to what is depicted on the interior panel, it is done in a monochrome style known as grisaille (this was common in triptychs of the era, and was intended not to detract from the colors of the interior being exposed).

7. The Garden of Earthly Delights is one of three similar triptychs that Bosch created.

Bosch's two thematic triptychs, similar to the Garden of Earthly Delights, are The Last Judgment and The Hay Cart. Each of them can be considered chronological order left to right: biblical creation of man in the Garden of Eden, modern life and her mess, terrible consequences in hell.

8. One part of the picture shows Bosch's devotion to the family.

About life Dutch artist era early renaissance very few reliable facts have survived, but it is known that his father and grandfather were also artists. Bosch's father Antonius van Aken was also an advisor to the Illustrious Brotherhood Holy Mother of God- groups of Christians who worshiped the Virgin Mary. Shortly before starting work on The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch followed the example of his father and also joined the brotherhood.

9. Although the triptych is religious, it was not painted for a church.

Although the artist's work is clearly made with a religious theme, it was too strange to be exhibited in a religious institution. It is much more likely that the work was created for a wealthy patron, possibly a member of the Illustrious Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin.

10. The painting may have been very popular at the time.

The "Garden of Earthly Delights" was first mentioned in history in 1517, when the Italian chronicler Antonio de Beatis noted this unusual canvas in the Brussels Palace of the House of Nassau.

11. The word of God is shown in the picture with two hands

The first scene is shown in Paradise, where God, raising his right hand, leads Eve to Adam. The Hell panel has exactly the same gesture, but the hand points dying players to hell below.

12. The colors of the painting also have a hidden meaning.

Pink color symbolizes divinity and the source of life. Blue colour refers to the Earth, as well as earthly pleasures (for example, people eat blue berries from blue dishes and frolic in blue ponds). Red represents passion. Brown color symbolizes the mind. And finally, green, which is ubiquitous in "Paradise", is almost completely absent in "Hell" - it symbolizes kindness.

13. The triptych is much bigger than everyone thinks

The triptych "Garden of Earthly Delights" is actually just huge. The dimensions of its central panel are about 2.20 x 1.89 meters, and each side panel is 2.20 x 1 meter. The unfolded width of the triptych is 3.89 meters.

14. Bosch made a hidden self-portrait in a painting

This is just a guess, but art historian Hans Belting has suggested that Bosch depicted himself on the Hell panel, split in two. According to this interpretation, the artist is a man whose torso resembles a cracked eggshell, smiling ironically while looking at the scenes of hell.

15. Bosch earned a reputation as an innovative surrealist thanks to the "Garden of Earthly Delights"

Until the 1920s, before the advent of Bosch admirer Salvador Dali, surrealism was not popular. Some contemporary critics Bosch is called the father of surrealism, because he painted 400 years before Dali.

Continuing the theme mysterious paintings we will tell about that - the most mysterious of all strangers.