Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthly Delights. 5 most interesting puzzles of the picture

Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" is the most incredible painting of the Middle Ages. It is saturated with symbols that are incomprehensible to modern man. What do all these giant birds and berries, monsters and fabulous animals mean? Where is the most slutty couple hiding? And what kind of notes are painted on the ass of a sinner?

Look for answers in the articles:

Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. What is the meaning of the most fantastic picture of the Middle Ages.

"7 of the most incredible mysteries of the painting" Garden of Earthly Delights "by Bosch."

Top 5 mysteries of Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.

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Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights (1510) is one of the most enigmatic paintings ever made. She rarely leaves anyone indifferent.

But since it was created 500 years ago, its meaning is too vague for us. After all, the modern worldview is very different from the medieval one, based on orthodox religiosity. Therefore, Bosch's "rebus" can only be solved in the context of his era.

This is what I will try to do by answering the 5 questions of the picture.

1. Why is a sinner in Hell so similar to Eve in Paradise?

I noticed that the same woman is found on all three wings of the triptych. Eve in Paradise is very similar to the woman in the Garden of Delights and to one of the sinners in Hell.

Bosch was a religious person, so it is quite possible that he decided to show the “way from heaven to hell” of the very first sinner on Earth.

As we know from the Bible, Eve ate an apple from the forbidden tree in order to become like God, knowing good and evil. She disobeyed her Creator, succumbing to the first human sin - pride.

Eve repented, but it was too late. Expulsion from Paradise was inevitable. God commanded Eve and Adam to live their earthly life and go to Hell, where they will spend more than 5000 years before the Coming.

In the Garden of Delights, Eve does not participate in what is happening. She lowered her eyes humbly as she repented of her sin. She wears a transparent flower on her head. Perhaps this is a sign of detachment and unwillingness to say anything, as befits a humble person.

But the punishment is inevitable, and Eve ends up in Hell. Here she is punished for her pride. Therefore, she will have to look at her reflection for a very long time so that her humility has no end. She has a toad on her chest, which in the Middle Ages was also a symbol of swagger and unreasonable vanity.

In Hell, Eve has perhaps the most humble and even calm face. After all, unlike others, she knew that she would get here.

2. What kind of people in the Garden of Delights are sitting in a dugout?

In the lower right corner of the Garden of Delights (the central part of the triptych) we see three people looking out of the dugout. Their bodies are characterized by increased hairiness. Who are they?

Apparently, these are wild people. Wild people were depicted naked, whose body is completely covered with hair, except for the face and neck, hands, feet, knees and breasts in women.

The theme of wild people was a favorite in the Middle Ages. Their images are often found on tapestries and dishes of the Middle Ages.

For ordinary people, they were savages, more free in terms of love and life in general. Not surprisingly, Bosch depicted them in a painting dedicated to the sin of voluptuousness. After all, they were a symbol of passion and bodily pleasures.

By the way, the depicted wild man in Bosch's painting is very similar to the savage from the miniature of Jean Bourdichon (1457-1521), an illustrator of psalters and hour books of the 15th-16th centuries.

I can assume that Bourdichon's drawing was created before the "Garden of Earthly Delights" and was taken by Bosch as the basis for writing his wild people.

3. Why do Bosch's monsters, like a "hodgepodge", consist of parts of different creatures?

Bosch Hell is full of monsters. What is it worth the most important demon with a human face, a hollow egg body and tree legs. Smaller monsters are no less remarkable, such as, for example, a creature with a bird's head, butterfly wings and three-toed limbs (at the legs-trees of a demon-egg).

It was an axiom for Bosch's contemporaries that all beings are created in the image and likeness of God. And everything that has a terrible and ugly appearance is the offspring of the Devil.

Therefore, in order to emphasize the diabolical nature of the creature as much as possible, he was portrayed as level-headed as possible. And this was achieved by attaching fish tails to hares, and to birds - a snail instead of a head.

If you open any book of the Middle Ages, on its pages you will find many strange creatures-designers.

Here are just a few examples:

At the time of Bosch, there are generally many images of monsters and monstrous creatures. I came across a miniature from a medieval watch book, created even before the birth of Bosch.

On it we see Hell, teeming with demons. Most of them are in their usual form - devils with horns and tails. However, among them there is a monster quite in the spirit of Bosch.

On the left we see a demon piercing a sinner with a trident. It looks like a fly without wings, with one horn and a bird's beak.

Perhaps it was these drawings that inspired Bosch to create his own “Hell”.

Read about the most interesting demons of Bosch from the Garden of Earthly Delights in the article "The most important monsters of the picture."

4. What is the symbol on the giant knives in Hell?

In Bosch Hell, we see several giant knives. At the time of the artist, knives were used not only in the kitchen, but also to punish thieves. They cut off their ears. Therefore, it is not surprising that knives are present in Hell with giant ears to boot.

But what kind of symbol in the form of either the letter “M” or the letter “B” is on these knives?

In the 15th and 16th centuries, knives were produced in the artist’s hometown of Hertongenbosch, which were also sold outside of Holland. So, they were exported to Spain and Scandinavia. These knives were branded.

Therefore, I can assume that it is more likely the letter “B”, as the first letter of the abbreviated name of the city. This sign on the knife is also found in other works by Bosch, for example, in the painting “The Last Judgment”.

5. The main mystery of Bosch's painting: why does it have so many details?

Anyone who has seen Bosch's paintings is struck by the amount of detail that abounds in his work. There are so many of them that it's just dizzying.

Bosch was an artist of his time and naturally succumbed to his influence. And in his time it was customary to draw every detail.

It is enough to open any book from the time of Bosch to be convinced of the dominance of this style of image through the drawing of many details.

Here are just two pages from the Hours of Anne of Brittany.

The paintings of the Middle Ages were just as worked out to the smallest detail. We are convinced of this by examining the work of Jan van Eyck and Robert Kampen. I wrote about the painting of the latter “Saint Barbara” in more detail in the article “7 paintings of the Prado Museum worth seeing”.

Bosch's work was not so strange and unusual for his contemporaries. And other artists of his time used a large number of details, symbols and unknown creatures in their works.

Despite the fact that Bosch absorbed a lot from his contemporaries and transferred it to his paintings, one must pay tribute to his genius. Still, he is an unsurpassed master in symbolism and riddles, even for his time.

About Bosch's painting "Garden of Earthly Delights" read also the article:

 “7 Incredible Mysteries of the Garden of Earthly Delights”

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