Bosch paintings garden of earthly delights. Bosch painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights": the history of a masterpiece

"GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS", 1500-1510

Another painting is called "GARDEN OF EARTHLY JOYS". I think, over the centuries, many have understood that voluptuousness is not such a big sin anymore, but rather Pleasure. But each time has its own canons. The picture is very interesting, much, at first glance, is completely incomprehensible, but we will try to take a closer look and figure out what this mysterious artist wanted to express. Triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" Having once seen the original in the Prado Museum in Madrid, for a long time I could not figure out what was depicted on it. What exactly did you want to tell us medieval artist? Even listening carefully to the guide, it is very difficult to understand this plexus of bodies and a huge number of naked people. The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych. It was supposed to serve to decorate the altar. Before proceeding to a detailed description of the painting, a few words about the artist. Hieronymus Bosch(Irun Antonison Van Aken) - 1450-1516 - Dutch artist, one of the largest representatives Northern Renaissance. Considered one of the most mysterious painters in history Western art. Bosch was born into a family of artists and lived and worked primarily in his native 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Around 1480, the artist marries Aleith Goyarts van der Meervene, whom he apparently knew from childhood. She came from a wealthy merchant family in Hertogensboss. Through this marriage, Bosch becomes an influential burgher in his hometown. They didn't have children. Six months after Bosch's death in 1516, his wife distributed what little remained after Bosch to his heirs. There is every reason to believe that Hieronymus Bosch never owned any real estate. Bosch's wife survived her husband by three years. Bosch's art has always had a tremendous attraction. Previously, it was believed that the "devilry" in the paintings of Bosch is intended only to amuse the audience, to tickle their nerves. Modern scientists have come to the conclusion that Bosch's work contains much more deep meaning, and made many attempts to explain its meaning, find its origins, give it an interpretation. He did not put a date on any of his paintings and did not give them a name. A total of 25 paintings and 8 drawings have been preserved. "The Garden of Earthly Delights" consists of 3 parts. CENTRAL PART Bosch depicted the Golden Age on the central wing of his pseudo-altar - a memory of the lost unity of man and nature, of the state of universal "sinlessness" (that is, ignorance of sin) and contrasted the ideal "golden" race of people with the modern, worst "iron" race, which has all possible vices. Central part. The Garden of Earthly Delights The "Garden of Earthly Delights" 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, hide under the peel of huge fruits or in shells. WITH human figures mixed animals of unnatural proportions, birds, fish, butterflies, algae, huge flowers and fruits. Magnificent in painting, the picture resembles a bright carpet woven from radiant and delicate colors. But this beautiful vision is deceptive, because it hides sins and vices, presented by the artist in the form of numerous symbols borrowed from popular beliefs, mystical literature and alchemy. In the composition of the Garden of Earthly Delights, three planes stand out. In the foreground, "various joys" are shown. There is a pond of luxury and a 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 apple boat, in which lovers retire, is shaped like female breast; birds become the personification of lust and debauchery, Fish - a symbol of restless lust, the shell is the feminine. The third (farthest) is getting married blue sky where people fly on winged fish and with their own wings. In order to make it easier to understand, you can look at the fragments in more detail. A young couple united in a transparent bubble. Side view of a young man hugging huge owl. Girls pluck exotic fruits from a tree. It would seem that against the backdrop of such a landscape, nothing could be more chaste love games human couples. Dream books of that time reveal the true meaning of these earthly pleasures: cherries, strawberries, strawberries and grapes, eaten with such joy by people, symbolize sinful sexuality, devoid of the light of divine love. 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 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. LEFT WING It represents 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. Gems sparkling in mud, as well as fantastic beasts, are 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. The researchers drew attention to the fact that God holds Eve by the hand, as in a marriage ceremony. The idea of "pairing" of all living beings, laid down from the moment of creation, was embodied in the works of many artists. In Bosch, animals and birds illustrate a completely different feature that is common to all living beings (and to humans too): a cat holds a mouse in its teeth, birds devour frogs, and lions hunt for larger prey. Therefore, the eating of one living being by another is envisaged in the plan of the Creator himself. On the right wing of the triptych, they will no longer swallow and torment animals and frogs, but people. Now let's take a closer look at the animals that appeared on earth. 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 are not just burning, but exploding, illuminating with flashes of flame dark background and making the water of the lake scarlet 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 stomach does not flow, but gushing, as if under the influence of a powder charge. The most harmless creatures are turned into monsters, ordinary things, growing to monstrous proportions, become an instrument of torture. A huge rabbit drags its prey - a little man bleeding; one musician is crucified on the strings of a harp, the other is tied to the fretboard of a lute. The place given to the source of life in Paradise's composition is occupied here by a rotten "tree of death" growing out of a frozen lake - or rather, it is a man-tree watching the disintegration of his own shell. 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 the icy water. The devilish mechanism - an organ of hearing isolated from the body - is composed 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 mark or the initial of the painter, for some reason especially unpleasant to the artist (perhaps Jan Mostaert), or the word "Mundus" ("Peace"), indicating a universal meaning masculine, symbolized by a blade, or the name of the Antichrist, which, in accordance with medieval prophecies, will begin with this letter. Those who listened to idle songs and melodies will be punished with hellish music. Serpents will encircle those who unchastely embraced women, and the table at which gamblers played dice and cards, will turn into a trap. A strange creature with a bird's head and a large translucent bubble absorbs sinners and then throws their bodies into a perfectly round cesspool. There, the miser is condemned to forever defecate with gold coins, and the other, apparently, a glutton - to unceasingly spew out the eaten delicacies. At the foot of the throne of Satan, next to the flames of hell, a naked woman with a toad on her chest is hugged by a black demon with donkey ears. The woman's face is reflected in a mirror attached to the buttocks of another, green demon - such is the retribution for those who succumbed to the sin of pride. Allegorically, musical instruments look here, which, from sources of pleasure, have been turned into torture machines. Below, on the left, the angry man is nailed to the board by a monster, just above the envious man two dogs are tormenting him - pride looks in the mirror on the devil's backside, the glutton spews out the contents of the stomach, and the greedy one defecates with coins. Medieval moralists called voluptuousness "music of the flesh" - and Bosch's numerous musical instruments torment human flesh, but by no means with sounds. The images of the terrible punishments that sinners are subjected to are not only the fruit of Bosch's fantasy. IN medieval Europe there were a lot of devices for torture: "hand saw", "belt of humility", "stork", "penitential shirts", "goats for witches", stocks, braziers, collars. The "Iron Helmet" screwed on the head, breaking the bones of the skull. The "iron shoes" pinched the legs, the degree of compression depended on the severity of the sentence; in these shoes, the convicts were supposed to walk around the city, announcing their approach with an iron bell. I WANT TO PAY YOUR ATTENTION TO ANOTHER OPINION ABOUT SINS. LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT - THE DUKE OF MEDICI, THE RULER OF FLORENCE, who lived with Bosch in one era called for the enjoyment of life: "Let everyone sing, play and dance! Let the heart burn with bliss! Down with fatigue! Down with sadness! Who wants to be cheerful - have fun today. Tomorrow - late". Even in Italy, the joy of being is seen as short and transient. Northern Europe, the motive of cheerful joy is alien in general. Arguing with Italian humanists, Bosch shows that for everything brief joys life people will pay with eternal torment in Hell. At the end of the XV century in the Netherlands seriously believe that after 1054, when there was a split Christian Church to the East and West, no one else got into Paradise. The first to decipher this work was José de Siguenza in 1605. He believed that it collective image the earthly life of a person who is mired in sinful pleasures and has forgotten about the primordial beauty of the lost paradise and is therefore doomed to perish in hell. The monk offered to make more copies of this picture and distribute them among the faithful for enlightenment. Sources: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%B4_%D0%B7%D0%B... http://hieronim.ru/symbols4.php http: //www.peremeny.ru/book/vh/441

canvases 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

Fragment of the central panel of the Bosch triptych.

IN three parts one Bosch paintings tried to portray the entire human experience - from life on earth 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 say that Garden of Eden 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

Happiness is like glass - one day it breaks.

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 outside of the side panels is shown the last part"The Garden of Earthly Delights" is an image of the World on the third day after creation, when the Earth is already covered with plants, but there are still neither animals nor humans.

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 exposed interior).

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 " Last Judgment"and" Carriage of hay. Each of them can be considered chronological order from left to right: biblical creation of man in the garden of Eden, modern life and its disorder, terrible consequences in hell.

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

Illustrious Brotherhood Holy Mother of God.

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 adviser to the Illustrious Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin, a group 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 on a religious theme, it was too strange to be exhibited in 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 raised right hand brings 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.

The colors of the painting also have hidden meaning.

Pink color symbolizes divinity and the source of life. Blue color 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 body 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"

Salvador Dali is a fan of Bosch.

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 who was the "Unknown" by the artist Ivan Kramskoy- the most mysterious of all strangers.

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Source: http://www.kulturologia.ru/blogs/220915/26361/

http://nearyou.ru/100kartin/100karrt_12.html Today we will get acquainted with one of the most famous paintings Bosch "GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS", 1500-1510 Another painting is called "GARDEN OF EARTHLY JOYS". I think, over the centuries, many have understood that voluptuousness is not such a big sin anymore, but rather Pleasure. But each time has its own canons. The picture is very interesting, much, at first glance, is completely incomprehensible, but we will try to take a closer look and figure out what this mysterious artist wanted to express. Triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights" Having once seen the original in the Prado Museum in Madrid, for a long time I could not figure out what was depicted on it. What exactly did the medieval artist want to tell us? Even listening carefully to the guide, it is very difficult to understand this plexus of bodies and a huge number of naked people. The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych. It was supposed to serve to decorate the altar. Before proceeding to a detailed description of the painting, a few words about the artist. Hieronymus Bosch (Irun Antonison Van Aken) - 1450-1516 - Dutch artist, one of the largest representatives of the Northern Renaissance. Considered one of the most enigmatic painters in the history of Western art. Bosch was born into a family of artists and lived and worked primarily in his native 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Around 1480, the artist marries Aleith Goyarts van der Meervene, whom he apparently knew from childhood. She came from a wealthy merchant family in Hertogensboss. Through this marriage, Bosch becomes an influential burgher in his hometown. They didn't have children. Six months after Bosch's death in 1516, his wife distributed what little remained after Bosch to his heirs. There is every reason to believe that Hieronymus Bosch never owned any real estate. Bosch's wife survived her husband by three years. Bosch's art has always had a tremendous attraction. Previously, it was believed that the "devilry" in the paintings of Bosch is intended only to amuse the audience, to tickle their nerves. Modern scientists have come to the conclusion that Bosch's work has a much deeper meaning, and have made many attempts to explain its meaning, find its origins, and give it an interpretation. He did not put a date on any of his paintings and did not give them a name. A total of 25 paintings and 8 drawings have been preserved. "The Garden of Earthly Delights" consists of 3 parts. CENTRAL PART Bosch depicted the Golden Age on the central wing of his pseudo-altar - a memory of the lost unity of man and nature, of the state of universal "sinlessness" (that is, ignorance of sin) and contrasted the ideal "golden" race of people with the modern, worst "iron" race, which has all possible vices. Central part. The Garden of Earthly Delights The "Garden of Earthly Delights" 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, hide 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. Magnificent in painting, the picture resembles a bright carpet woven from radiant and delicate colors. But this beautiful vision is deceptive, because it hides sins and vices, presented by the artist in the form of numerous symbols borrowed from folk beliefs, mystical literature and alchemy. In the composition of the Garden of Earthly Delights, three planes stand out. In the foreground, "various joys" are shown. There is a pond of luxury and a 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 apple-boat in which lovers retire is shaped like a woman's breasts; birds become the personification of lust and depravity, The fish is a symbol of restless lust, the shell is the feminine principle. The third (farthest) is crowned with a blue sky, where people fly on winged fish and with the help of their own wings. In order to make it easier to understand, you can look at the fragments in more detail. A young couple united in a transparent bubble. On the side, a young man hugs a huge owl. Girls pluck exotic fruits from a tree. It would seem that against the backdrop of such a landscape, nothing could be more chaste than the love games of human couples. Dream books of that time reveal the true meaning of these earthly pleasures: cherries, strawberries, strawberries and grapes, eaten with such joy by people, symbolize sinful sexuality, devoid of the light of divine love. 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 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. LEFT WING It represents 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. Gems sparkling in mud, as well as fantastic beasts, are 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.
The researchers drew attention to the fact that God holds Eve by the hand, as in a marriage ceremony. The idea of "pairing" of all living beings, laid down from the moment of creation, was embodied in the works of many artists. In Bosch, animals and birds illustrate a completely different feature that is common to all living beings (and to humans too): a cat holds a mouse in its teeth, birds devour frogs, and lions hunt for larger prey. Therefore, the eating of one living being by another is envisaged in the plan of the Creator himself. On the right wing of the triptych, they will no longer swallow and torment animals and frogs, but people. Now let's take a closer look at the animals that appeared on earth. RIGHT WING. MUSICAL HELL 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 stomach does not flow, but gushing, as if under the influence of a powder charge. The most harmless creatures are turned into monsters, ordinary things, growing to monstrous proportions, become an instrument of torture. A huge rabbit drags its prey - a little man bleeding; one musician is crucified on the strings of a harp, the other is tied to the fretboard of a lute. The place given to the source of life in Paradise's composition is occupied here by a rotten "tree of death" growing out of a frozen lake - or rather, it is a man-tree watching the disintegration of his own shell. 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 the icy water. The devilish mechanism - an organ of hearing isolated from the body - is composed 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 mark or the painter's initial, for some reason especially unpleasant to the artist (perhaps Jan Mostaert), or the word "Mundus" ("Peace"), indicating the universal meaning of the masculine principle, symbolized blade, or the name of the Antichrist, which, in accordance with medieval prophecies, will begin with this letter.
Those who listened to idle songs and melodies will be punished with hellish music. Serpents will encircle those who unchastely embraced women, and the table at which gamblers played dice and cards will turn into a trap.
A strange creature with a bird's head and a large translucent bubble absorbs sinners and then throws their bodies into a perfectly round cesspool. There, the miser is condemned to forever defecate with gold coins, and the other, apparently, a glutton - to unceasingly spew out the eaten delicacies. At the foot of the throne of Satan, next to the flames of hell, a naked woman with a toad on her chest is hugged by a black demon with donkey ears. The woman's face is reflected in a mirror attached to the buttocks of another, green demon - such is the retribution for those who succumbed to the sin of pride. Allegorically, musical instruments look here, which, from sources of pleasure, have been turned into torture machines. Below, on the left, the angry man is nailed to the board by a monster, just above the envious man two dogs are tormenting him - pride looks in the mirror on the devil's backside, the glutton spews out the contents of the stomach, and the greedy one defecates with coins. Medieval moralists called voluptuousness "music of the flesh" - and Bosch's numerous musical instruments torment human flesh, but by no means with sounds. The images of the terrible punishments that sinners are subjected to are not only the fruit of Bosch's fantasy. In medieval Europe, there were a lot of devices for torture: "hand saw", "belt of humility", "stork", "repentance shirts", "goats for witches", stocks, braziers, collars. The "Iron Helmet" screwed on the head, breaking the bones of the skull. The "iron shoes" pinched the legs, the degree of compression depended on the severity of the sentence; in these shoes, the convicts were supposed to walk around the city, announcing their approach with an iron bell. I WANT TO PAY YOUR ATTENTION TO ANOTHER OPINION ABOUT SINS. LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT - THE DUKE OF MEDICI, THE RULER OF FLORENCE, who lived with Bosch in one era called for the enjoyment of life: "Let everyone sing, play and dance! Let the heart burn with bliss! Down with fatigue! Down with sadness! Who wants to be cheerful - have fun today. Tomorrow - late". Even in Italy, the joy of being is seen as short and transient. Northern Europe, the motive of cheerful joy is alien in general. Arguing with Italian humanists, Bosch shows that for all the short joys of life, people will pay with eternal torment in Hell. At the end of the 15th century in the Netherlands, they seriously believe that after 1054, when the Christian Church split into East and West, no one else went to Paradise. The first to decipher this work was Jose de Sigüenza in 1605. He believed that it gave a collective image of the earthly life of a person mired in sinful pleasures and having forgotten about the primordial beauty of the lost paradise and therefore doomed to perish in hell. The monk offered to make more copies of this picture and distribute them among the faithful for enlightenment.
Sources.

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 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 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 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 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 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.

Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. 1505-1510

According to our modern ideas in paradise there is no violence and death. However, they have a place to be in Bosch's paradise. The lion has caught the deer and is already biting into its flesh. A wild cat carries a captured amphibian in its teeth. And the bird is about to swallow the frog.

Of course, it is difficult to classify animals as sinners, because they kill for the sake of survival. But I think Bosch brought these scenes into the image of paradise for a reason.

Perhaps in this way he tried to show that there is no escape from the cruelty of the world, even in paradise. And man, as part of nature, is also endowed with cruelty. The question is how he will dispose of it: will he fall into sin or will he be able to curb his animal nature.

2. How could Bosch see exotic animals?

Bosch portrayed not only fantastic monsters, but also real-life animals from distant Africa. hardly a resident Western Europe could see an elephant or a giraffe live. After all, there were no circuses and zoos in the Middle Ages. So how did he then manage to depict them so accurately?

At the time of Bosch, it was very rare, but still there were travelers who brought drawings of unknown animals from distant lands.

The giraffe, for example, was most likely copied by Bosch from a drawing by the traveler Chiriaco d'Ancona. At the end of the 15th century, he traveled a lot around the Mediterranean in search of ancient buildings. Today, d'Ancona is considered the father of modern archeology. Traveling in Egypt, he made a sketch of a giraffe.

3. Why do men lead a round dance, saddling different animals?

In the central part of the triptych, people rejoice in earthly life, indulging in the sin of voluptuousness. simply overflowing with naked people: they eat berries and fruits, talk and hug here and there.
Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. The central part of the triptych. 1505-1510 Prado Museum, Madrid.

The least chaotic in the picture seems to be a round dance of unusual horsemen: men ride various animals around the lake, in which the girls are serenely splashing.

I really like the explanation that the journalist Konstantin Rylev gave to this action. Girls in the lake are lonely ladies waiting for their chosen ones. Each of them has either a fruit or a bird on its head. Perhaps they mean the character and essence of a woman. On some sit black birds, symbols of misfortune. Such women are more likely to make their men unhappy because of bad temper. On others - red berries, a symbol of lust and debauchery.

But the character of men is determined by the animal on which he rides. There are also horses, and camels, and wild boars. But the goat is still free, without a rider.

It is also noteworthy that men keep various gifts for future chosen ones - some fish, some eggs or berries. Having found a soul mate for themselves, the couples disperse around the garden in order to enjoy the earthly dissolute life not alone.

4. If Bosch depicts how people indulge in the sin of voluptuousness, then where are the actual lewd scenes?

Despite the fact that Bosch depicted an uncountable number of naked figures who, according to his idea, indulge in the sin of voluptuousness, you will hardly find frankly indecent scenes here.

But it's only at a glance modern man. For the time of Bosch, the image of naked bodies is already the personification of extreme depravity.

However, there is still one dissolute couple in the picture, which, in the frankness of its gestures, surpasses all the others. It is well hidden, so it is very difficult to find it.

The couple settled down in the depths of the garden in the opening of the central fountain: bearded man put his hand on the large-headed woman's bosom.

5. Why are there so many birds in the pleasure garden?

An owl is often found on the left and central parts of the triptych. We may falsely think that this is a symbol of wisdom. But this meaning was relevant in antiquity, and it is also accepted in our time.

However, in the Middle Ages, an owl, as a nocturnal predatory animal, was a harbinger of evil and death. Just like the potential victims of an owl, people should be on their guard, as evil and death look out for them and threaten to attack.

Therefore, the owl in the opening of the fountain of life in paradise is rather a warning that evil does not sleep even in a sinless space and only waits for the moment when you stumble.

Also in the central part there are many birds of enormous size, on which people sit astride. Deprecated value Dutch word vogel (bird) - sexual intercourse. Therefore, the image of large birds is an allegory of Bosch about the impetuousness of people in lust and debauchery.

Among the thrushes, ducks and woodpeckers, there is also a hoopoe, which people of the Middle Ages associated with sewage. After all, hoopoe, having long beak, really often picks in manure.

Lust is the dirty aspiration of a person according to the ideas of the religious people of the Middle Ages, which was Bosch. Therefore, it is not surprising that he portrayed him here.

6. Why are not all sinners tormented in Hell?

There are also many mysteries on the right wing of the triptych, which depicts Hell. It is infested with all sorts of monsters. They torment sinners - they devour them, pierce them with knives or lustfully pester them.
Hieronymus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights. Right wing of the triptych “Hell”. 1505-1510

But not all souls accept torment. I paid attention to the sinners who are on the main demon in the center of the picture.

Inside the hollow egg is a tavern where sinners drink, albeit riding a lizard-like creature. And a sad man peeps out of the tavern and looks at the ongoing chaos. Through the brim of the hat, the souls of sinners walk arm in arm with monsters.

It turns out that they are not particularly tormented, but give them a drink, walk with them or let them mourn alone. Perhaps these are the ones who sold their souls to the devil and a warm place without torment was reserved for them? Only now there is no escape from the contemplation of the torment of others.

I also wrote about this demon tree in detail in the article.

7. What kind of notes are depicted on the backside of the sinner? Is it nonsense or a specific melody?

There are many sinners in Hell who are punished for playing musical instruments during their lifetime for amusement and pleasure. In Bosch's time, it was considered correct to perform and listen only to church music.

Among such sinners, one is crushed by a huge lute. There are notes on his back. Until recently, researchers did not pay attention to them special attention, considering it only as an element of the composition.

But one student at Oklahoma Christian University decided to check if these notes are meaningless.

Everyone was amazed when she put the tune into modern notation and recorded it in the format of a chorus male singing in the key of C major. This is how this music sounded in Bosch's time:

The melody is pleasant, but not like a cheerful song. More like a church hymn. The picture shows that sinners perform it in unison. Apparently their torment is to forever perform the same motive.

Here are just a few of the mysteries fantastic picture middle ages.

In fact, this work causes much more questions. But you will not find a single tolmut with clues. Here, with Pieter Brueghel the Elder, a contemporary of Bosch, everything was much more unambiguous, and researchers have long deciphered his work. After all, he portrayed Dutch proverbs.

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The Garden of Earthly Delights is one of the most famous works of the great artist (1450-1516). The Dutch artist dedicated his triptych to sin and religious beliefs about the structure of the universe. Approximate time writing 1500-1510 Wood, oil, 389 × 220 cm. Currently, the triptych is displayed in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

How Hieronymus Bosch actually called his creation is unknown. Researchers who studied the painting in the 20th century called it the Garden of Earthly Delights. This is how the work is called today. Researchers and connoisseurs of Bosch's art are still arguing about the meaning of this painting, its symbolic plots and mysterious images. This triptych is considered one of the most mysterious works most enigmatic artist the Renaissance.

The picture was called the Garden of Earthly Delights after the central part, where a certain garden with people enjoying is just presented. On the sides are other plots. The left side depicts the creation of Adam and Eve. Hell is depicted on the right wing. Triptych has a huge amount of details, figures, mysterious creatures and not fully deciphered plots. The picture seems to be a real book, in which a certain message is encrypted, the artist's creative vision of being in the world. Through many details that can be viewed for hours, the artist expresses the main idea - the essence of sin, the trap of sin and retribution for sin.

fantasy buildings, strange creatures and monsters, caricatures of characters - all this can seem like a giant hallucination. This picture fully justifies the opinion that Bosch is considered the first surrealist in history.

The picture has caused a lot of interpretation and controversy among researchers. Some claimed that central part may represent or even glorify bodily pleasures. Thus, Bosch depicted the sequence: the creation of man - the triumph of voluptuousness on earth - the subsequent punishment is hell. Other researchers reject this point of view and point to the fact that the church at the time of Bosch welcomed this picture, which may mean that the central part depicts not earthly pleasures, but paradise.

Few adhere to the latest version, since if you look closely at the figures in the central part of the picture, you can see that Bosch depicted in allegorical form the disastrous consequences of earthly pleasures. naked people, which have fun and indulge in love pleasures, have some symbolic elements of death. Such symbolic allegories of punishment may include: a shell that slams lovers shut (shell - feminine), aloe that digs into human flesh and so on. Riders who ride various animals and fantastic creatures are a cycle of passions. Women picking apples and eating fruits are a symbol of sin and passion. Also shown in the picture in illustrative form are various proverbs. Many proverbs that Hieronymus Bosch used in his triptych have not survived to our time and therefore the images cannot be deciphered. For example, one of the proverbial images is an image with several lovers who are covered with a glass bell. If given proverb did not live up to our time, the image could not be deciphered: "Happiness and glass - how short-lived they are."

Summing up, we can say that Bosch depicted in his picture the destructiveness of lust and adultery. On the right side of the picture, which depicts the surreal horrors of hell, the artist showed the result of earthly pleasures. The right side is called " musical hell» due to the presence of several musical instruments- harps, lutes, notes, as well as a choir of souls led by a monster with a fish head.

All three images are the interior of the Garden of Earthly Delights. If the shutters are closed, another image appears. Here the world is depicted on the third day after God created it from the void. The earth here is in a certain sphere, it is surrounded by water. Greenery is already growing on the earth, the Sun is shining, but so far there are no animals or people. On the left wing, the inscription reads: "He spoke, and it happened," on the right, "He commanded, and it appeared."

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

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

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 the right path. 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. The outer side of the side panels depicts the last part of the "Garden of Earthly Delights" - 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.

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 viewed in chronological order from left to right: the biblical creation of man in the Garden of Eden, modern life and its disorder, the terrible consequences in hell.

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

Very few reliable facts have been preserved about the life of the Dutch artist of the early Renaissance, but it is known that his father and grandfather were also artists. Bosch's father Antonius van Aken was also an adviser to the Illustrious Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin, a group 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. The blue color 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 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

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

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 modern critics call Bosch the father of surrealism, because he wrote 400 years before Dali.

In continuation of the theme of mysterious paintings, we will tell you about something - the most mysterious of all strangers.