The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych

Bosch, Hieronymus

Zoom in Zoom out

Close Continuar a ficha de la obra Continuar a ficha de la obra

Descargar

Personal use

Commercial use

Bosch, Hieronymus

S'Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), 1450 - S'Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), 1516

See author's file

1490 - 1500. Grisaille, Oil on oak panel.
Room 056A

The Garden of Earthly Delights is Bosch’s most complex and enigmatic creation. For Falkenburg the overall theme of The Garden of Earthly Delights is the fate of humanity, as in The Haywain (P02052), although Bosch visualizes this concept very differently and in a much more explicit manner in the centre panel of that triptych than in The Garden of Earthly Delights. In order to analyse the work’s meaning the content of each panel must be identified. On the outer faces of the triptych Bosch depicted in grisaille the Third Day of the Creation of the World, when the waters were separated from the earth and the earthly Paradise (Eden) created. At the top left we see God the Father as the Creator, according to two Latin inscriptions, one on each panel: For he spake, and it was done and For he commanded, and they were created (Psalms 33:9 and 148:5). On the inner face of the triptych, painted in brilliant colours which contrast with the grisaille, Bosch painted three scenes that share the single common denominator of the concept of sin, which starts in Paradise or Eden on the left panel, with Adam and Eve, and is punished in Hell in the right panel. The centre panel depicts a Paradise that deceives the senses, a false Paradise given over to the sin of lust. This deception is encouraged by the fact that the centre panel is shown as a continuation of Eden through the use of a single, continuous landscape with a high horizon line that allows for a broad, panoramic composition arranged as three superimposed planes, in the panels of the earthly Paradise, the Garden of Earthly Delights and Hell.

While sin is the connecting link between the three scenes, the iconography in the Paradise panel requires further analysis in order fully to appreciate its meaning. As will be noted below in the analysis of the technical documentation, when he initially embarked on the work Bosch included the Creation of Eve on the left panel, but in a second phase he replaced it with God presenting Eve to Adam. This very uncommon subject was associated with the institution of marriage, as Falkenburg and Vandenbroeck discuss (Bosch, 2016). For the latter, the centre panel represents the false paradise of love, known as Grail in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, which implied a carnal interpretation of God’s mandate to Be fruitful and multiply, as instituted in marriage. The men and women that Bosch depicts in the Garden of Earthly Delights believe they are inhabiting a paradise for lovers, but this is false and their only fate is punishment in Hell. The extremely pessimistic message that the centre panel conveys is that of the fragility and ephemeral nature of happiness and delight in these sinful pleasures.

In the centre panel, from which the triptych derives its name, Bosch included a large number of naked human figures, with the exception of the pair at the lower right, who are usually identified as Adam and Eve after the Expulsion from Paradise. Men and women, both black and white, are generally seen in groups or pairs, maintaining amorous relations with a powerful erotic charge that refers to the panel’s pre-eminent theme, the sin of lust. The animals, both real and imaginary, are much larger than their proper scale. Among them, Bosch particularly emphasizes two different types of owl that evoke evil. Staring straight out, they direct their disturbing gazes at the viewer at the two lateral edges of the panel, slightly set back from the immediate foreground. Also present are plants and fruit, which are again much larger than their scale dimensions. The entire composition is dotted with pieces of red fruit that contrast with other large and small blue ones, these being the two principal colours in the scene. In contrast to the apparent confusion that prevails in the foreground, geometry imposes itself in the middle ground and background. In the former, Bosch depicted a pool full of naked women. Around it, in an anti-clockwise direction, rides a group of men on different mounts (some of them exotic or imaginary), who have been associated with different Cardinal Sins. In the background of the scene Bosch included five fantastical architectural constructions in the water, the central one similar to the fountain of the Four Rivers in the Paradise panel, although here broken to symbolize its fragility and the ephemeral nature of the delights being enjoyed by the men and women who fill this garden. And now the owl depicted inside the fountain in the Paradise panel is replaced here by human figures in sexually explicit poses.

The right panel depicts Hell and is Bosch’s most striking representation of this subject, on occasions referred to as the musical Hell owing to the significant presence of instruments used to torture sinners who have devoted their time to secular music. In his text in the present catalogue Larry Silver describes the punishments meted out to each sin. While lust prevails in the centre panel, in the scene of Hell all the Cardinal Sins are punished. A good example is the punishment of the avaricious, who are devoured and immediately expelled from the anus of a theriomorphic creature with a bird’s head (a variety of owl) seated on a type of child’s lavatory stool. Gluttons and the sin of gluttony are undoubtedly referred to in the tavern scene located inside the tree-man, in which semi-naked people seated at a table wait to be served toads and other unpleasant creatures by devils, while the envious are tortured by immersion in frozen water. Further punishments correspond to vices censured by society at the time, including board games, while particular social classes are also singled out, including the clergy, who were notably criticized at this period, as reflected in the pig wearing a nun’s veil embracing a naked man in the lower right corner.

Although the triptych in the Museo del Prado is not signed, its attribution to Bosch has never been doubted. Its dating, however, is the subject of considerable debate. The results of the dendrochronological analyses could allow it to be located within the early years of the artist’s activity, around 1480-85, as Vermet stated without any supporting evidence. However, the work’s stylistic proximity to the Adoration of the Magi Triptych in the Prado (P02048), which can be securely dated to 1494 following Duquenne’s identification in 2004 of the donors, Peeter Scheyfve and Agneese de Gramme from Antwerp, confirms that the present work must have been painted in the 1490s and not after 1505, as most authors preferred to believe prior to Duquenne’s discovery. It has recently been argued that it must have been painted in or after 1494 as the image of God the Father creating the world on the reverse of the triptych is inspired by a print by Michel Wolgemut of the same subject -including the same text from the Psalms as appears on the wings- which appeared in Hartman Schedelsche Weltchronik published in Nuremberg in 1493.

Research undertaken in 1967 by Gombrich and Steppe allowed The Garden of Earthly Delights to be associated with the Nassau family. An account by Antonio de Beatis, who accompanied Cardinal Luis de Aragon as his secretary on his trip to the Low Countries, states that on 30 July 1517 the triptych was in the Nassau palace of Coudenberg in Brussels, where De Beatis presumably saw it. Since in the late 1960s the painting was considered to be a late work by Bosch, executed after the death of Engelbert’s II of Nassau in 1504, it was therefore thought that the patron was Henry III of Nassau (1483-1538), Engelbert nephew and heir. In the present day and in the light of the information that locates the triptych in the 1490s, it can be confirmed that it was commissioned from Bosch by Engelbert, who must have intended it for the Coudenberg Palace.

Silva Maroto, Pilar, 'Jheronimus Bosch. The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych'. In: Bosch. The 5th Centenary Exhibition, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2016, p.330-346 n.46

See work in timeline

RDF

Multimedia

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (2)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (3)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (4)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (5)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (6)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (8)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (9)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (10)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (11)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (12)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (13)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (14)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (15)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (16)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (17)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (18)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (19)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (20)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (21)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (22)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (23)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (24)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (25)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (26)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (27)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (28)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (29)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (30)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (31)

The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych - The Collection (32)

See more multimedia content

Technical data

Clic para ampliar

Related artworks

Inventory number: P002823
Author: Bosch, Hieronymus
Title: The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych
Date: 1490 - 1500
Technique: Grisaille; Oil
Support: Oak panel
Dimension: Height: 185.8 cm; Width of the central panel: 172.5 cm; Width of the wing: 76.5 cm
Provenance: Engelbert II of Nassau, 1490/1500-04; Henry III of Nassau, 1504-38; René de Châlon, 1538-44; William I of Orange, 1544-67; expropriated in Brussels by Fernando Alvárez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, 28 May 1568; Fernando de Toledo, illegitimate son of the Duke of Alba, 1568-91; purchased at his posthumous sale by Philip II, 1591; sixth batch of works sent by Philip II to the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 8 July 1593; moved to the Museo del Prado in 1933 from the monastery of El Escorial; permanent loan to the Museo del Prado by Decree dated 2 March 1943; on permanent loan from Patrimonio Nacional, belonging to the Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial

Bibliography +

Ponz, Antonio, Viage de España. Vol. I, Joachin Ibarra, Madrid, 1773, pp. 240-241.

Araujo, C, Dos trípticos de Jerónimo Bosco, Revista de archivos, bibliotecas y museos, 1897, pp. 528.

Lafond, Paul, Hieronymus Bosch. Son Art, Son Influence, Ses Disciples, G.Van Oest, Bruselas, 1914, pp. 45.

Fierens-Gevaert, Hippolyte, Histoire de la Peinture Flamande des Origines a la Fin du XV, G.Van Oest, Paris. Bruselas, 1929, pp. láms.123-124.

Seisdedos, Jerónimo, Las restauraciones de cuadros y algunas restauraciones recientes., Arte español, 15, 1944-45, pp. 105-107.

Daniel, Howard, Jheronimus Bosch. Jerome Bosch Van Aeken, Hyperion, Paris, 1947, pp. 18-26.

Brans, J.V.L., Hieronymus Bosch (El Bosco) en el Prado y en el Escorial, Omega, Barcelona, 1948, pp. 58, 67, láms. 95-112.

Brans, J.V.L., Los ermitaños de Jerónimo Bosco, Goya: Revista de Arte, 4, 1955, pp. 196.

Bax, Dirk, Beschrijving en poging tot verklaring van het tuin der onkuisheiddrieluik van Jeroen Bosch: gevolgd door kritiek op Fraenger, Noord-Hollandsche Uitg. Mij., Amsterdam, 1956.

Benesch, Otto, Hieronymus Bosch and the Thinking of the Late Middle Ages. S, Sartryck Ur Konsthistorisk Tidskrif, Viena, 1957, pp. 116-117.

Pita Andrade, José Manuel1922-2009, El Bosco, [Electra]Arte, Barcelona, 1959.

Mateo, Isabel, El grupo de jugadores en el Jardín de las Delicias, Archivo Español de Arte, 32, 1959, pp. 252.

Lennerberg, Hans, Bosch's garden, Gazette des beaux-arts, 58, 1961, pp. 135-144.

Mateo, Isabel, El grupo de la cueva en el panel central del Jardín de las Delicias, Archivo español de Arte, 36, 1963, pp. 253.

Tüngel, Richard, 400 Jahre Kunst, Kultur, und Geschichte im Prado, Schweizer Verlagshaus, Zurich, 1964, pp. 40, láms. 17-20.

Dohmann, Albrecht, Die Altniederlandische Malerei des Funfzehnten Jahrhunderts, E.A.Seemann BuchUnd Kunstverlag, Leipzig, 1964, pp. lám. 268.

Mateo, Isabel, El Bosco en España, Instituto Diego Velázquez, del C.S.I.C., Madrid, 1965, pp. 13-23, láms. 13-27.

Hemphill, R.E., The Personality and Problem of Hieronymus Bosch, Royal Society of Medicine, Bristol, 1965, pp. 137-144.

Azcárate, J.M. de, El extraño mundo del Bosco, 1966.

De Tolnay, Charles, Hieronymus Bosch, Reynal and CompanyWilliam Morrow and Company, 1966, pp. 202-360.

Tolnay, Charles de, Hieronymus Bosch, Eyre Methuen, Londres, 1966, pp. 202.

Spychalska-Boczkowska, Anna, Material for the iconography of Hieronimus Bosch's triptych the Garden of Delights, Studia muzealne, 1966, pp. 49-86.

Brinkman, A, Alchemistische symboliek in het werk van Jeroen bosch, Chemie and Techniek, 1967, pp. 645-647.

Mateo, Isabel, El Jardín de las Delicias... A propósito de una copia y un tapiz, Archivo español de arte, 40, 1967, pp. 47.

Boon, K.G., Jheronimus Bosch, Hieronymus Bosch Exhibition Foundat, 1967, pp. 7-12, 61-65, lám. 1-3.

W. Frenken, Tom, El Bosco, pintor insigne, Goya, 1968, pp. 275.

Buzatti, Dino, La obra pictórica completa de el Bosco, Noguer, Barcelona.Madrid, 1968.

Cuttler, Charles D., Northern Painting. From Pucelle To Bruegel. Fourteenth, Fift, Holt Rinehart and Winston Inc, Nueva York, 1968, pp. 210.

Calas, Elena, Bosch garden of delights, Art journal, 29, 1969, pp. 184.

Friedländer, Max J., Early netherlandish painting, A.W.Sijthoff, Leyden-Bruselas, 1969.

Chastel, André, El Mito del Renacimiento 1420-1520., Skira, Ginebra, 1969, pp. 209.

Franz, Heinrich Gerhard, Niederlandische Landschaftesmalerei in Zeitalter des Manieri, Akademische DruckU.Verlagsanstalt, 1969, pp. láms. 7-9.

Reutersward, Patrik, Hieronymus Bosch, Rudolf Zeidter, 1970, pp. 87-92.

Linfert, Carl, Hieronymus Bosch, Harry N.AbramsInc., Nueva York, 1971, pp. 29,104-116/ láms.48,49.

Marle, Raimond Van, Iconographie de l'art profane au Moyen-Age et à la Renaissan, Martinus Nijhoff, Nueva York, 1971, pp. 77/ lám.90.

Mateo, Isabel, El conejo cazador, Archivo español de arte, 45, 1972, pp. 166.

Marijnissen, Roger H., Hieronimus Bosch, Weber, Gante, 1972, pp. 1-147.

Sánchez Cantón, Francisco Javier, Museo del Prado. Catálogo de las pinturas, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1972.

Boczkowska, Anna, Hieronim Bosch, Arkady.Henschelverlag, Varsovia Berlin, 1974, pp. 36.

Rowlands, John, Bosch, Phaidon, Oxford, 1975, pp. 17-33.

Schuder, Rosemarie, Hieronymus Bosch, Union Verlag, Berlin, 1975, pp. 36-46, lám. 42.

Fernández Bayton, Gloria, Inventarios reales. Testamentaría del Rey Carlos II, 1701-1703, I, Museo del Prado, Patronato Nacional de Museos, Madrid, 1975, pp. 97.

Goertz, Heinrich, Hieronymus Bosch in Selbtzeugenissen Und Bilddokumenten, Rowohlt, Hamburgo, 1977, pp. 57.

Boczkowska, Anna, The crab, the sun, the moon and Venus. Studies in the iconology of H. Bosch's triptych the garden of earthly delights, Oud Holland, 91, 1977, pp. 197-231.

Calas, Elena, The wicked walk in a circle in Bosch's garden, Coloquio artes, 20, 1978, pp. 32-40.

Fleming, J, 'An evaluation of physico-chemical epproaches to authentication' en: Authentication in the visua arts. A Multi-disciplinary symposium., B.M.Israel B.V., Amsterdam, 1979, pp. 296/ lám.422.

Bax, Dirk, Hieronymus Bosch. His Picture-Writing Deciphered, A.A.Balkema, Rotterdam, 1979, pp. 311.

Lassaigne, Jacques, La Grande Histoire de la Peinture. Vol. I. L'Europe Gothique, Skira, Ginebra, 1979, pp. 17.

Dhanens, Elisabeth, Hubert et Jean Van Eyck, Fonds Mercator, Amberes, 1980, pp. 170-173/ lám.120,121.

Genaille, Robert, La rixe de paysans, Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Sxhoone Kunsten Antwerpen / Antwerp Royal Museum Annual, 1980, pp. 93/ lám.18.

Dixon, Laurinda, Bosch's Garden of delights triptich: Remnants of a 'fossil' science, The Art Bulletin, Micro, 1981, pp. 96-113.

Baltrusaitis, Jurgis, Le Moyen Age Fantastique, Ernest flamarion, París, 1981, pp. 57,58,197,198,213,214.

Musper, H.T., Netherlandish Painting From Van Eyck To Bosch, Harry N.Abrhams Inc., Nueva York, 1981, pp. 43, 114, lám. 41.

Bango Torviso, Isidro, Bosch: realidad, símbolo y fantasía, Silex, Vitoria, 1982, pp. 162.

Delmarcel, G., Het Aards Paradijs. Dierenvoorstellingen in de Nerderlanden Van de 16de en 17de Eeuw., [s.n], Amberes, 1982.

Grüner, Eduardo, La ciudad inimaginable. Imagen contrautópica en El Jardín de las delicias del Bosco, Arte informativa, 1982, pp. 32.

Bermejo, Elisa, La pintura de los primitivos flamencos en España. II, C.S.I.C., Instituto Diego Velázquez, Madrid, 1982, pp. 113-114.

Sotos Serrano, Carmen, Los Pintores de la Expedicion de Alejandro Malaspina, Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid, 1982, pp. 296.

Beagle, Peter S., The Garden of earthly Delights, The Viking press, Nueva York, 1982.

Rooth, Anna Birgitta, Fran Lögnsaga till paradis, Upsala, 1983, pp. 95.

Vallese, Gloria, Il tema della follia nell' arte di Bosch: Iconografia e stile, Paragone, 34. 405, 1983, pp. 3-49 il.5,6,8,9.

Courthion, Pierre, La Peinture Hollandaise et Flamande, Fernand Nathan, 1983, pp. 54-55.

Wiams, A., Bosch Prado. Photos en Couleurs, Grandeur Nature de la Colle, Loterie Nationale, Bruselas, 1984, pp. 56-67.

Cook, Albert, Change of signification in Bosch's garden of earthly delight, Oud Holland, 1984, pp. 76-97.

Merveille, Alexandra, Le Jardin des Déices de Jérome Bosch, Univ.de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, 1984.

Bonin, Wibke Von, 100 Meisterwerke Aus Den Grossen Museen Der Welt. Vol. II, Verlagsgesellschaft Schulfernsehen, Colonia, 1985, pp. 209.

Mateo, Isabel, Apostillas iconográficas al Bosco y Rodrigo Alemán, Bolettín del Museo del Prado, 6, 1985, pp. 129.

Berger, R., Der Garten Der Luste. Zur Deutung des Erotischen Und Sexuellen Bei Kunstlern Und... Interpreten, Dumont Buchverlag, Colonia, 1985, pp. 96.