0:00 Hieronymus Bosch. Honorary professor of nightmares.
3:22 “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
4:55 Left panel/The Garden of Eden
6:41 Central Panel
10:12 Right Panel/Hell
14:54 Time-lapse of drawing a manticore
Thank you for spending this time with me. In the upcoming videos, I plan to explore the works of Van Gogh, Cézanne, Renoir, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and others. Perhaps, just like in this video, we’ll try to draw something together.
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At the link, you can download some of Bosch’s creatures, isolated in PNG format. You can use them for virtual cards, emojis, memes, or just send them to a friend:
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Useful links and additional information:
http://boschproject.org/
https://archief.ntr.nl/tuinderlusten/en.html
https://artsandculture.google.com/
Prado museum photos by Francisco Seco, AP/Ansa
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Music:
“Hieronymus Bosch Butt music” by Jim Spalink, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnrICy3Bc2U
“Angevin” by Kevin MacLeod
“Everything has its time” by Domitory Taranofu
Special thanks to Esther for hang drum sound
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When it comes to inventing and drawing a fantastical creature, unfortunately, one’s own imagination may sometimes fall short, requiring external assistance and references for inspiration. Undoubtedly, the creative work of Hieronymus Bosch, an unparalleled master and incredibly intriguing artist of the Northern Renaissance, can be indispensable in this regard. He brought to life in his paintings an immense number of the most incredible beings. He was a true creator of nightmares, a person with an extraordinary imagination. So, before starting work on another monstrous creation (this time I chose the Manticore), I turned to Bosch’s work as a source of inspiration. Suddenly, I found myself awakened only after a considerable amount of time – Bosch’s incredible world simply absorbs, transports to a parallel reality, both frightening and fascinating. No wonder debates have been raging for over 500 years – where did the artist draw his incredible ideas from? What is encrypted in the grotesque painted objects, what secrets do the symbols and phantasmagorical characters of his canvases hold? And was he mentally healthy at all?
Let’s try to delve into this question together. Moreover, as we study Bosch’s work, quite intriguing details come to light, which I will share during the narration. Therefore, the video is divided into two stages: firstly, we will admire one of his most famous masterpieces, exploring it in close detail, and in the second part of the video, we will showcase the actual process of creating the Manticore, whose stylistic inspiration will be drawn from Bosch’s works. Throughout the process, I will show which characters and elements influenced the painting, and we will also analyze some color and compositional decisions.
So, we travel 500 years back and a hundred kilometers southeast of Vermeer’s Delft, to the hometown of Hieronymus Bosch – ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Bosch’s life, like that of his Delft colleague, is shrouded in mystery. Bosch left behind no diaries, letters, or documents. Additionally, he never dated his works, so we do not know exactly when he painted them and how old he was when he completed them. Hieronymus Bosch is a pseudonym; the artist’s real name is Hieronymus Antonissen van Aken. It is believed that he was born around 1450 in the northern part of the Netherlands, in one of the cities of the Duchy of Brabant – ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Hieronymus belonged to the well-known artistic dynasty of van Akens, originating from the German city of Aachen. In 1486, his name is mentioned in the account book of the “Brotherhood of the Virgin,” whose members adhered to the cult of the Virgin Mary, and with which Bosch was associated throughout his life.
There are only about 30 works attributed to Bosch’s name, but only 9 of them are unequivocally recognized as personally created by him. Moreover, experts confidently attribute about 20 more canvases to Bosch’s brush. Many of the artist’s works were lost when in 1629 the troops of Prince Frederick Henry of Nassau besieged and almost completely destroyed ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
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When it comes to inventing and drawing a Fantastical creature unfortunately one’s own imagination May sometimes fall short requiring external assistance and references for inspiration undoubtedly the creative work of heronimus Bosch an unparalleled master and Incredibly intriguing artist of the northern Renaissance can be indispensable in this
Regard he brought to life life in his paintings an immense number of the most incredible beings he was a true creator of nightmares a person with an extraordinary imagination so before starting work on another monstrous creation this time I chose the manor I turned to Bosch’s work as a source of
Inspiration suddenly I found myself awakened only after a considerable amount of time Bosch’s Incredible World simply absorbs transports to a parallel reality both frightening and fascinating no wonder debates have been raging for over 500 years where did the artist draw his incredible ideas from what is encrypted in the grotesque painted
Objects What secrets do the symbols and fantasmagorical characters of his canvases hold and was he mentally healthy at all let’s try to delve into this question together moreover as we study Bosch’s work quite intriguing details come to light which I will share during the narration therefore the video
Is divided into two stages firstly we will admire one of his most famous masterpieces exploring it in close detail and in the second part of the video we will showcase the actual process of creating the mandor whose stylistic inspiration will be drawn from Bosch’s Works throughout the process I
Will show which characters and elements influence the painting and we will also analyze some color and compositional decisions so we travel 500 years back in 100 km southeast of verir Del to the hometown of heronimus Bosch es heren Bosch Bosch’s life like that of his Del colleague is shrouded in mystery Bosch
Left Behind no Diaries letters or documents additionally he never dated his works so we do not know exactly when he painted them and how old he was when he completed them heronimus Bosch is a pseudonym the artist’s real name is heronimus Anton van Akin It is believed
That he was born around 1450 in the northern part of the Netherlands in one of the cities of the duy of bband s heren BOS heronimus belonged to the well-known artistic dynasty of Van Akin originating from the German city of aan in 1486 his name is mentioned in the
Account book of the Brotherhood of the Virgin whose members adhered to The Cult of the Virgin Mary and with which Bosch was Associated throughout his life the time was quite prolific for great artists Bosch’s contemporaries included Leonardo da Vinci albrech Durer and Raphael there are only about 30 Works
Attributed to Bosch’s name but only nine of them are unequivocally recognized as personally created by Him moreover experts confidently attribute about 20 more canvases to Bosch’s brush many of the artists Works were lost when in 1629 the troops of Prince Frederick Henry of nasau besed and almost completely
Destroyed s heren BOS so if anyone has a time machine in the Attic please provide an invaluable service to the cultural heritage of humanity travel back to 1628 and save the Priceless Legacy of the artist within the scope of one video it is impossible to cover the multifaceted
Creativity of Bosch so let’s delve a bit deeper into his famous the of Earthly Delights and about other equally interesting works we might discuss separately in future reviews if there is interest from viewers undoubtedly the tryptic The Garden of Earthly Delights painted in 1503 to 1504 is the most
Well-known work of heronimus Bosch housed in the prto museum the tryptic is executed in oil on a panel measuring 220x 389 CM divided into three parts the outer panels depict a massive transparent sphere representing the moment of the creation of the world this part of the work is executed in gai
That is with a restrained monochromatic color apparently this is done to achieve a special effect when the panels open and the monochrome image gives way to a spectacle of incredible colors it enhances the explosive effect on the viewer even now the open tryptic impresses with its vividness compositional solution and abundance of
Figures and details back then 500 years ago people had never seen anything like it and this work simply blew Minds in the open position the left panel represents Paradise or Eden the central panel The Garden of Earthly Delights and the right panel hell this work populated with Fantastical creatures grotesque
Monsters And Beautiful People combines a multitude of different symbols and allegories both Christian alchemical and erotic it is a bold intrusion into the subconscious the dreamlike world that the artist tried to express in his work the left panel deps Pi the last 3 days of the creation of The World God
Created luminaries plants land animals and men in his own image in the foreground is a scene where God the Creator holds Eve by the hand resembling a marriage ceremony Adam gazes admirably at the beautiful Eve his cheeks blushing Eve modestly casts her eyes down in the
Center of the panel is the Fountain of Life a Whimsical pink fountain in the Blue Waters of the river at the base of which pearls and precious stones are scattered inside we see an owl at that time symbolizing Darkness spiritual blindness and heresy overall the owl is
One of Bosch’s favorite symbols and is often depicted in his paintings various peaceful birds and animals inhabit the landscape including even a unicorn however not everything is idilic in this world Sinister three-headed lizards crawl out of the lake and huge black amphibians probably a symbol that vices are already inherent in human
Nature from the beginning by the way pay P attention to the face formed by the folds of the landscape and The Crawling creatures Salvador dolly was clearly inspired by this image when creating his the great masturbator Salvador Dolly closely studied Bosch’s work and was strongly influenced by his painting technique and created
Images in the background various animals graze drink from watering holes and birds Gathering flocks it should be noted that elephants and giraffes were considered Novelties in the 16th century since Africa was virtually unexplored at that time and BOS could only get an idea of these animals through scientific
Treatises for example Bosch might have observed the depiction of a giraffe in the colorful albums of the Italian traveler syak of anona let’s move to the central part of the tryptic here we see a Fantastical Garden where naked men and women indulge in the pleasures of Life playing bathing dancing feasting on
Fruits and giant berries in those times depicting naked bodies had nothing sinful about it it is important to remember that for medieval people the body did not carry sexual connotations naked people appear both in paradise and in hell since everyone stands before God without disguise wigs and social status they are precisely
What they are in reality as created by nature and God the composition is a complex intellectual Rebus a dreamlike flow of sexual images with numerous encrypted symbols and objects inspired by Old Dutch songs Proverbs and colloquial Expressions it is an intellectual dream about sensual pleasures A World Before the Flood and
The fall in the depiction of voluptuous of fruits some researchers saw an allegory of debauchery and carnal Pleasures the outdated meaning of the Dutch word Vogal bird sexual intercourse therefore the depiction of large birds is Bosch’s allegory of people’s unrestraint in lust and debauchery similarly another expression harvesting fruits for example also
Contains an erotic subtext and denotes copulation Hollow fruits with characters inside and the peel are are associated with the Dutch Pon shell shill meaning both peel and conflict however there are various other interpretations suggesting that berries represent specific symbols the sweetness of cherries symbolizes the softness and kindness of a person Blackberry
Symbolizes the purity of the Virgin Mary and strawberry is a sign of righteousness and diligence which interpretation is closer to the truth most likely we will never know in the background we see five Whimsical structures one of which is a fountain possibly the Fountain of Eternal youth consisting of various elements adorned
With huge flowers fruits and gemstones the other four are castles of vanity filled with acrobats birds and exotic plants people bathe in the fountain Waters mermaids and creatures in armor swim in the sky people are also visible some hover on their own Wings someone flies on a griffin or a flying
Fish in a small Lake several groups of young blonde girls are present around them Riders on various exotic animals dance in a circle some in quite Whimsical poses someone holds a huge fish someone feeds birds with berries what is this the Zodiac the cycle of rebirth we can only guess some have
Crows on their heads others wear white spoon bills and large red fruits rest on the heads of the third group mythological creatures are also present unicorns Griffins migrated from the left panel giving a definitive interpretation of what Bosch really wanted to convey is quite challenging currently there are several
Hypotheses interpreting the images of the tryptic one interpretation is that men not yet expelled from Paradise for whom Everything grows who has everything ready to serve him has no worries and faces No punishments what else is there for him to do he multiplies he is beautiful natural far
From the world of Shame therefore there is no jealousy in this paradise no hatred here a celebration of Senses takes place the painting is a kind of sentence on boundless lust according to another version the central part of the tryptic represents the world before the universal flood lust and greed indicate
The real State of Affairs on Earth which prompted God to destroy the world hell is other people said John Paul SRA on the right panel we witness the depiction of Hell or as it is also called the musical hell generally the theme of the last judgment is one of the
Most important and impressive in the history of medieval European art and BOS continued this tradition the composition is irrational built with a deliberate violation of the laws of perspective houses in the background burn brightly in the Flames of the underworld against a menacingly black Sky the brown River
Of Fire and Blood carry Sinners into the very heart of Hell in the lower left corner Sinners are punished for their passion for gambling subjecting them to horrific tortures dogs torment one of the envious Sinners a demon impales the heart of a sinner on a sword sword and a
Giant rabbit drags its victim bleeding a hand pierced by a dagger is a punishment for wrath or theft a severed thief’s hand was highly valued among those who practiced black magic note how this hand resembles the hand from the left panel iron armor could symbolize medieval torture for example the iron helmet was
Screwed onto the head breaking the bones of the skull and the iron boots clamped the legs the degree of compression depended on the severity of the sentence people wearing such boots were supposed to walk around the city announcing their approach with an iron bell slightly above among giant musical instruments a
Hellish concert is taking place one sinner is crucified on a harb pierced by its strings a loop becomes a torture device for another and with its lower part it presses down a third whose buttare the imprints of the Melody’s notes enthusiasts have tried to decipher and record the notes and now you can
Hear this hellish Melody opposite the musicians on the right side of the composition is the punishment for gluttony a monstrous bird with a cauldron instead of a hat and Paws stuck into two jugs devour Sinners and digests people throwing them into a cesspool this monster is often identified as Satan however there is an interesting
Theory According to which it is cronis or Saturn merciless time devouring its children in the astrological books of that time the sign of Aquarius was placed under Saturn’s feet in the form of a jug and on the feet of Bosch’s monster we see two jugs the Glutton is
Vomiting and the greedy one is excreting golden coins a woman sitting under Satan’s mantle Embraces a black creature with a toad on her chest in front of her a creature with a convex mirror instead of buttocks reflecting the face of the victim apparently the woman symbolizes the sin of Pride or
Narcissism Bosch made her very similar to eeve from the first painting perhaps this is Eve and all this is payment for the original sin who knows the key place in the composition belongs to the image of the Treeman whose body is an empty shell and legs are withered stumps standing in Hollow
Swaying boats inside the Treeman something resembling a Tavern is happening where new visitors climb the stairs there is a suggestion that the Treeman represents the self portrait of the artist on his head lies a round tabletop and a violin stands around which dancing imps lead Sinners the violin and the round shape symbolize
Female and male sexual symbols just like the composition consisting of a knife between two ears which like a tank advances on a crowd of Sinners undermining them and cutting them with its giant blade on the blade there is a stamp the letter M most likely it is the
Initial letter of the word Mundus World arrows often found in Bosch’s compositions symbolize evil sometimes it protrudes across the Hat sometimes pierces bodies sometimes even stuck into the anus of a half- naked person which also hints at corruption and lack of Chastity the latter is a symbol of the
Path to knowledge in alchemy or sexual intercourse the inverted funnel is an attribute of fraud or false wisdom in Bosch’s hell chaos Reigns a terrifying Carnival where all logical connections are overturned the most ordinary objects acquire immense sizes and turn into horrifying torture instruments Bosch’s creative Legacy has no analogues in
World art the language of his metaphors is mysterious in the 20th century surrealists called him the honorary professor of nightmares heronimus Bosch is the last Jewel of Gothic painting the creator of an era in which heightened religiosity the magic of the mind and Reckless reality converged but I’ve rambled on enough
Inspired by the great Bosch let let’s get down to work we’ll be painting the picture with oil on canvas we start with underpainting filling the main areas with a key color to Esta sh correct tonal relationships generally Bosch’s technique is mostly ala Prima meaning the impasto method of oil painting where
Thickly applied initial Strokes create the final texture however this technique makes sense when using sufficiently large canvases I’ll remind you the tryptic size is 220x 389 cm if the detailing is high and the canvas is small it makes sense to work with glazes or spum applying paint in very
Thin layers and blending it so that brush Strokes are not visible initially I plan to make only a sketch for a future large painting using a very small canvas size of 30X 40 cm however as I progressed I got carried away and decided to draw everything in more detail the color and tonal
Decisions are taken from the hell panel dark ominous saturated with reddish black and greenish steel Shades among the pigments used by Bosch one can identify red and yellow ochre cadmium red copper green carbon black Earth Tones and Lead white I chose the manticor for the depiction because this creature closely Echoes Bosch’s
Symbolism and Visually resembles the biblical Locust the canonical text apocalypse chapter 9 describes this creature the locusts look like horses prepared for battle on their heads they wore something like crowns of gold and their faces resembled human faces they had hair like women’s hair and their teeth were like lion’s teeth they had
Tails with stingers like scorpions the manticor is also depicted with the body and man of a lion the tail of a scorpion sometimes with the face of a human and in some cases even with wings so the choice is entirely justified in addition to the manticor it
Will be necessary to densely fill the space with various strange creatures this is a favorite practice of the Artist as I worked I changed the composition several times rewrote some details and searched for the right tonality because only in the process does the correct composition and arrangement of elements become apparent
Of course it is pointless and impossible to perfectly replicate the style and detail of a master of such caliber it may take months for such work I’m just trying to work in the same relaxed surrealism allowing myself some Liberties and consciously breaking some rules some say that Bosch’s insane
Imagination is a result of erism a fungus that parasitizes on Ry this raging disease was worse than the plague in Bosch’s time the action of the urget alkaloids on people was depressing a person who ate bread contaminated with the fungus experienced unbearable skin Burning then their skin would be covered with ulcers turning black due to disrupted blood circulation if Gang Green said in limbs were amputated the nervous system was also affected resulting in hallucinations and uncontrollable convulsions in the Middle Ages this disease was called St Anthony’s fire or witches
Cramps however as a practicing artist I doubt this version Bosch’s hand was steady enough and on his canvases it’s challenging to find traces of the disease such as uncertain or meaningless Strokes made by convulsing hands moreover the scale of Bosch’s works the amount of work intelligence and irony rather indicate that he was
Mentally healthy to me he seems like a smart person obsessed with his work with a good sense of humor and self-irony as a token of appreciation for the most dedicated viewers I’ll leave a symbolic gift in the description you’ll find a link where you can download some of bosa’s creatures cut
Out with a transparent layer for free you can use them for virtual cards emojis memes or simply share them with a friend
2 Comments
incredible!
Wonderful. You are a great master.