Thursday 22 January 2015

Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights




Wikipedia: The Garden of Earthly Delights
The Garden of Earthly Delights is the modern title given to a triptych painted by the Early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch. It has been housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating from between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch was between about 40 and 60 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious complete work.

The triptych is painted in oil on oak and is formed from a square middle panel flanked by two other oak rectangular wings that close over the center as shutters. The outer wings, when folded, show a grisaille painting of the earth during the biblical narrative of Creation. The three scenes of the inner triptych are probably (but not necessarily) intended to be read chronologically from left to right. The left panel depicts God presenting Eve to Adam, the central panel is a broad panorama of socially engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized fruit and hybrid stone formations. The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation.

Wikipedia: Hieronymus Bosch
Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) was an Early Netherlandish painter. His work is known for its use of fantastic imagery to illustrate moral and religious concepts and narratives.



Personal Notes
For some inexplicable reason, as a child, I developed a strong interest in reading. My parents had an eclectic home library and this inquisitive child delved into literature, art, and even medicine. (my father was a medical professional) There were several large picture books giving an overview of the art world, from the ancient to the modern masters, and I had an introduction to the wonderful world of art, both scuplture and painting.

I saw The Garden of Earthly Delights and was quite enamoured by both the detail and the imagery. Like many a teenager, I followed rock music faithfully and when the following 1969 album by Deep Purple came out, I was the only one among my friends who immediately recognised the painting on the cover.

Deep Purple: album #3 (1969)

Wikipedia: Deep Purple (album)
Deep Purple, also referred to as Deep Purple III, is the third studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, released in 1969 on Harvest Records in the UK and on Tetragrammaton in the US.

Album Cover
Tetragrammaton issued the album in a stark gatefold sleeve, wrapped around with a segmented illustration from Hieronymus Bosch's painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights. The label ran into difficulty over the use of the Museo del Prado-owned painting, which was incorrectly perceived as being anti-religious; featuring "immoral scenes", in the US and thus rejected or poorly stocked by many record shops. The original painting is in colour although it appeared on the LP in monochrome due to a printing error for the original layout and the band opted to keep it that way.


my blog: Deep Purple: Chasing Shadows - Aug 20/2012

2015-01-22

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1 comment:

D. A. Wolf said...

Mr. Belle, I didn't realize you were an art lover! Bosch is fascinating.

You might also enjoy looking into Robert Ernst Marx, whose paintings and his much lauded print and sculpture works address "what it means to be human in an inhuman world."

Brilliant and multi-layered. Google him and check him out. (And you might enjoy this: http://d-a-wolf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Robert-Ernst-Marx-Essay-by-DAW-2011.pdf)