Иероним Босх. Около 1450-1516. Между Раем и Адом

by Walter Bosing

If Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) remains an enigma today, it is little wonder. Even his contemporaries found the Dutch painter's work difficult to decipher—and it still presents riddles to contemporary art historians.

Part of the problem in decoding his shocking and richly allegorical paintings is that virtually nothing is known of the artist himself, apart from his birthplace. There is no record of his life or training, no personal letters, diaries or notebooks, and no contemporary insights into his personality or thoughts on the meaning of his art. Even his date of birth can only be guessed at, and that based on a drawing assumed to be a self-portrait, made shortly before his death in 1516, which supposedly shows the artist in his late sixties. Bosch remains as mysterious as the worlds he painted.

Although rooted in the Old Dutch tradition, Bosch developed a highly subjective, richly suggestive formal language. With a mixture of religious humility and satanic wit, he illustrated both the joys of heaven and the cruelly imaginative tortures of hell. In his pictorial world teeming with surrealistic nightmares, the medieval imagination catches fire in a moment of final brilliance before succumbing to humanism and modern rationalism. Though the man himself remains a mystery, this book pulls together the elusive threads of Bosch's entire oeuvre into a cohesive and comprehensive analysis of his visionary work and methods.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:

a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions a concise biography

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography

96 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Postmodjane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admire Bosch because he could paint in an extremely unique and innovative style and at the same time he met the expectations of his own era, in this way he has been an idol for more than 500 years.

[Gareth Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richly illustrated evaluation of Bosch’s art, refuting any sense that he was an early surrealist, arguing instead that he represents the last vivid flowering of the beliefs of the Middle Ages. Convincing and fascinating, complete with remarkable details of some of his most imaginative works.

[David Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excelente.