Northern Renaissance
Hieronymus Bosch
In or around the year 1500
For this blog, I opted for a work from Hieronymus Bosch. There's this funny book that I was read to a lot as a kid called "Pish Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch". The pictures in the book were styled after his artwork, more or less and it was a pretty goofy book, so when I saw Hieronymus Bosch as an option I had to choose him.
The Artist: Hieronymus Bosh himself was an avid fan of rather abstract and rather "out there" artworks (see above). Historically, Bosch has left next to nothing about himself for historians to find out, so the guy is more or less an enigma, which I think is extremely unfortunate. His art style was rather unique for the time, so I would've loved to know more about him. His habit of leaving behind nothing also bled into his artwork as only upwards of seven of his pieces are signed, and none dated, which is why claiming that this work was made around the year 1500 is an approximation.
Reason for Choice & Aesthetic Analysis: I chose this piece because it looks pretty goofy. That's about it. When I saw it I chuckled because I thought it looked pretty silly, if not a little creepy. The huge nun wearing the top of the hut on her head is one of my favorite parts of this piece. That said, with a name like "Temptation of St. Anthony", it's probably not supposed to be that funny. That said, I don't like this piece just because it's funny. The creep factor of the painting is definitely the strongest quality about it. The chosen colors aren't vibrant ones. They're all murky to some extent. Even the white color on the nun's clothing has a dirty yellow tinge to it. The human standing in the doorway of the hut appears to be mussing their shins and feet. I don't think Bosch was being lazy, since there's an object in the left window that's extremely detailed, so I suspect that the human's leg shape was deliberate. Something else that's creepy is the two heads poking out from the shadows. One of them is looking out from behind the doorway and the other out of the right window, which is rather unsettling I feel.
Bosch & Humanism: Bosch's relationship with humanity - and by extension humanism - was complicated. He was not on the side of humanism. He was a devout Catholic and thought that human error was absolutely terrible. However, he didn't blame humans for being so flawed. In his eyes, it was extremely easy to screw up and he couldn't fault them for that. He was also known to lump himself in with the rest of humanity, so he didn't consider himself superior to his fellow humans. I suspect that this piece reflects this, to an extent.
Relationship to Humanism: I believe that Bosch created this work in retaliation to the Renaissance, which advocated for prioritizing your happiness in the physical world, over bliss in the afterlife. This piece was painted in the Renaissance, and Bosch was a devout Catholic who opposed humanism. This piece posed as comfort to those who were upset at how bad life was for them - considering that in the 1500s life wasn't nearly as convenient as it is now.
Sources:
Hieronymus Bosch - Dixon, Laurinda. “Hieronymus Bosch.” Oxford Bibliographies, 26 Nov. 2019, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0064.xml.
How Hieronymus Bosch defied the ideals of an age - Prodger, Michael, "How Hieronymus Bosch defied the ideals of an age" NewStatesman, 21 March 2016, www.newstatesman.com/culture/art-design/2016/03/how-hieronymus-bosch-defied-ideals-age.
The Temptation of St Anthony - “The Temptation of St Anthony.” Artble, 19 July 2017, www.artble.com/artists/hieronymus_bosch/paintings/the_temptation_of_st_anthony.
I like how you explain that Bosch was not a humanist and how his artworks represent humans’ flaws. I can see that the artwork has a tone of light and depth.
ReplyDeleteI love Bosch work, it is so surreal. Every time i see a painting you see new things the longer that you look at. Your right it's pretty funny at first seeing the nun wearing the roof of the house, but the more you look at it you start to see all the"fault" that human can fall into. It is pretty sad that we don't know much about him, it would have been amazing to know why he made paintings like this, what his story was, what inspired him to do things like this. I'm glad they survived though, they really are fantastic to looks at.
ReplyDeleteBosch made some amazing art, one of my favorite artist from this time for sure. I like how you elaborated on his beliefs of humanism and the intentions behind the piece. The deeper feelings he had that you went into when talking about his relationship to humanism made for some interesting thoughts too. I wonder what it would have felt like to be someone who openly opposed a lot the mainstream humanistic ideas at that time.
ReplyDeleteHey Forest. Bosch's art style really reminded me of Terry Gilliam's artwork on Monty Python. Both art styles are completely surreal. I also agree that this painting is unsettling. The hay on the roofing really looks like hair to me, which shouldn't be the case because she is wearing a veil. Thank you for your interesting post.
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