Bosch, Hieronymus, << bosh or bos, `hee` uh ROH nuh muhs >> (1450?-1516), was a Dutch painter. Only about 25 recognized Bosch paintings exist. He is best known for his imaginative triptychs (three-paneled paintings). Many of his paintings show landscapes full of malformed people, fantastic demons, distorted animals, large and oddly shaped pieces of food, and sometimes unidentifiable objects. His works reflect the influence of Dutch proverbs and puns, popular literature, Biblical parables, witchcraft, alchemy, and astrology.
Bosch’s paintings reveal his obsession with the Devil and the Devil’s followers. Much of the imagery shows that humanity was doomed to suffer tortures in hell because of the foolish, greedy, and lustful nature of human beings. Bosch’s paintings typically consist of many separate episodes. For example, in the triptych The Temptation of Saint Anthony (about 1500), the saint is in the midst of a vast, decaying landscape overrun with monstrous demons. The demons offer Anthony various worldly pleasures to tempt him from his holy life.
Bosch’s largest and most complex work is a triptych called The Garden of Earthly Delights (about 1500). Like other Bosch works, this painting has been interpreted in many ways. One interpretation sees the work as an attack on human folly. However, other interpreters have suggested that the painting demonstrates how human beings can return to the natural state of innocence that existed before the fall of Adam and Eve. Bosch took his name from Hertogenbosch, his birthplace in the Netherlands. He died on Aug. 9, 1516.
