Detail View: Visual Resources Teaching Collection: The Garden of Earthly Delights Alterpiece

aahi0000179

The Garden of Earthly Delights Alterpiece

view of exterior

In the triptych with the 'Garden of Earthly Delights', Bosch depicted the history of the world in terms of the Creation of the World by God the Father (on the outer wings), the earthly or Terrestrial Paradise (Garden of Eden) on the left inner wing and Hell on the right inner wing—all treated sub specie sexualitatis et procreationis. On the outer side the newly created world is already clothed in wonderful flora, symbols of nature and sexuality, which are also found in the central panel and in temptation scenes by the artist. The left wing shows the institution of marriage (Adam and Eve) and already hints at the sexual perversion of it (the owl in the fountain). The central panel shows the false paradise of love, probably as the aetas aurea from Adam to Noah, to be repeated at the end of the world sub specie luxuriae ('sicut in diebus Noe …'). This grail, as the pseudo-paradisus amoris was called in the 15th and 16th centuries, is situated between the earthly and the supernatural and contains both heavenly and diabolical elements: thus some interpreters see it as depicting a paradisiacal state, others a state of sin. The ambiguity is, in fact, intended and is fundamental to a proper understanding of the triptych. Its 'message' is approximately as follows: sexuality can become an end in itself, owing to an unchaste interpretation of the paradisiacal state of marriage instituted by God, with the command to increase and multiply. Thus men and women believe they are living in a lovers' paradise (the grail), but it is really false and pernicious. Bosch supported this view 'historically': sex and procreation were known from the beginning (the outside of the wings); in the 'golden age' they turned to luxuria; and at the end of the world (which may come at any time) they will again lead back to evil. The preaching of 'pure' marriage is not so much a matter of religious thinking as of the upper middle-class preoccupation with marriage, the family and the household (concerns that were strongly promoted c. 1500). (Grove Art Online accessed 2007-10-13>

ca. 1505-1516

creation

Hieronymus Bosch (Netherlandish, ca. 1450-1516)

male

Netherlandish painter and draughtsman. The most distinctive and idiosyncratic of 15th-century Netherlandish artists, he produced a body of work remarkable for its depiction of fantastic, often diabolic, creatures, generally moralizing representations of the consequences of sin and folly. (Grove Art Online Accessed 2006-07-26)

16th century

Netherlandish Renaissance-Baroque styles

creation

seven deadly sins

Adam and Eve

Genesis, Book of

Hell

Bibles

triptychs

paintings

oil painting

220 cm (H) x 195 cm (W)

"For he spake and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." From Psalm 33:9 of the Bible

Museo del Prado

repository

2823

accession

Madrid, Spain

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