Hieronymus Bosch - Garden of Earthly Delights. Creation of Eve (left wing),
Garden of Earthly Delights (central panel), Hell (right wing), Oil on wood.
 .most fascinating and puzzling painters in history, was hard to interpret him,
continuing Schongauer’s theme of fantasy
 .large scale work, triptych, altarpiece commissioned for private use (not for
religious use), forms relatively flat and simple, can see primer through paint
 may hint at an interpretation involving alchemy (turning base metals into gold) –
the medieval study of seemingly magical changes, especially magical changes –
may come from his wife’s family interests, wildly imaginative setting, fanciful
and unusual animals
 Somber exterior painted in grisaille, God and Creation, light and dark, flora and
fauna
 reads across from left to right, left panel
o continuation with Genesis, animals are killing each other in paradise (laws
of nature at work) - something is not right
o owls are a bad omen , serpent can be seen
 Sandwiched between Paradise and Hell is the huge central panel, with nude
people cavorting among bizarre creatures and unidentifiable objects,
o intensely sexual imagery, lush fruit – pleasures of the flesh, fleeting
pleasure, bubbles as well, clam shells and flowers and birds (all fertility
symbols) suggest procreation.
o Bottom right – 2 figures, may both have clothes on, female figure with
fruit, Adam and Eve, Adam is looking at us and pointing at Eve (being
seduced by Bosch/sin), piece of architecture
 .on the right, change of landscape, the horrors of Hell. Bosch is telling a story,
o Beastly creatures devour people, others impaled or strung on musical
instruments (music – frivolous pleasure), sins being punished.
o face might be his and cavern of lost souls
o bagpipes are a sexual symbol, blue boat was symbol of a carnival
(celebration before Lent)
o lizard/bird represents Devil
 seems to point to a wedding commemoration, but unlike van Eyck and Christus
grounded their depictions of betrothed couples in contemporary Flemish life and
custom, Bosch’s image portrays a visionary world of fantasy and intrigue
 The orgiastic overtones of Garden of Earthly Delights in conjuction with the
terrifying image of Hell have led some scholars to interpret (like Last Judgment
images), as a warning to their viewers of the fate awaiting the sinful, decadent,
and immoral.
Conclusion
Northern and Spanish art in the 15th century was the product of political, religious, social,
and economic changes. Among the notable transformations in art were the increased use
of oil paints in Flanders, a greater illusionism in manuscript illumination, and the
invention of movable-type printing in Germany. Flanders, in particular was at the
forefront of artistic developments, in part because of the power and patronage of the
Burgandian dukes.
Chapter 21 Humanism and the Allure of Antiquity:
RENAISSANCE (rebirth of antiquity)
15th Century Italian Art [1400-1500]
takes place in Florence, can see its Roman center
1401 Florence Cathedral – across from it is a baptistery, very similar to structure of Pisa
Florentines are making big statement to decorate baptistery with unprecedented – bronze
doors are a huge expense
Quatrofoils – archaic gothic shape, 2 finalists
Filippo Brunelleschi Sacrifice of Isaac, competition panel for east doors, baptistery of
Florence Cathedral. Gilded bronze relief
Lorenzo Ghiberti – Sacrifice of Isaac
 Abraham told by God to give up his only son
 Ghiberti wins – takes advantage of the depth of the plane whereas Bruneleschi
arranges the figures around mostly in profile, Ghiberti not so classically geared,
S curve is more gothic
 Brunelleschi has a problem with the shape of the quatrofile, tries to fill out in
artificial way
 Brunelleschi – showing his classical antiquity figure of boy taking a thorn from
his foot – scholar of antiquity
 Practical reason Brunelleschi loses – Ghiberti casts his plate in a single figure,
only figures he casts separately is the figure of Isaac, waste of metal because
Brunelleschi uses too much metal
Lorenzo Ghiberti – east doors (Gates of Paradise) baptistery, Florence Cathedral
 Abandons Gothic frame
 Turns the doors into 10 panels representing books of the Old Testament, 37
scenes
 Isaac and his Sons – Isaac becomes old and blind and is supposed to pass on the
covenant to his oldest son – Essau who didn’t care so much for the blessing, Jacob
really wanted the blessing, Isaac’s wife Rebecca favored Jacob and tells him to go
hunting and dresses him in Essau’s clothing, very many moments of narrative in
one scene, utilizes high and low relief to make it a convincing space
Brunlleschi is credited with the invention of linear perspective – device understood in
Rome, though no painting survived, does experiments, devises systems for artists,
establish a vanishing point is a point of the horizon where the parallel lines recede and
converge into a point in the distance.
Brunelleschi (architect)
Donatello (sculptor)– Saint Mark, or San Michele
, Florence Italy
 the cushion serves to identify the guild, to physically illustrate mass and stance of
figure
 closed profile and active profile (shows the body underneath, he is looking at
antiquity (similar to Greek caryatid)
 Donatello understands perspective from below – cannot sculpt something above
your head the same as if you were looking head on
 Is thinking of Roman antiquity
Donatello – prophet figure, Habbakuk (Zuccone),
 from the campanile of Florence Cathedral, Florence Italy
 goes for deep drapery folds that catch dirt
 unshaven, haunting eyes, emaciated face – emotionally powerful figure
Gentile Da Fabriano – Adoration of the Magi
Altarpiece from Santa Trinita, Florence Italy. Tempera on Wood.
 Like international gothic style still appealing to painters
 Precious golds, materials, courtly style
 Subject not common for altarpiece, very appealing to the wealthy (the patron)
 Interest in classical antiquity, interest in natural observation
 no classical antiquity
 attempt to foreshorten figures
 3 predella scenes – far more progressive, new emerging style reserved for the
margins
Masaccio - Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence
Very short life, died at 28 “Giotto reborn”
Masaccio – Tribute Money, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine
 2 biblical moments
 Christ and his disciples run into a tax collector – Peter is told to fish for a coin justification towards paying taxes (Florence and beginning of income tax)
 Vanishing point at Jesus’s head
 Aerial perspective – what you do to show something look like its in the distance
without pavement , make something smaller, reduce detail, creating depth through
how he places figures,
 strong shadows, consistent strong light source
 Chiaroscuro
Masaccio – Adam and Eve from Eden (chapel)
 Figures walking into the chapel
 Very strong cast shadows, with restoration they removed the leaves
 Studies the nude body and then covered it up, was meant to look more
sculpturally 3D
 Giomata (pt. giomate)
Masaccio – Holy Trinity
 Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy
 Shows how far he’s taken perspective
 Want public devotion, Geometrically worked out
 Masaccio paints a fictive chapel for them, needed help from Brunelleschi
(architect)
 God is holding Jesus
 Sarcophagus – first thing we see – altar table is built out of the wall out towards
 Memento mori - the reminder of death
 If you pass the skeleton, we see the patrons (praying) above your head
 Christ is part of 2 separate groups
o The Triangle is supposed to be the Crucifixion – Mary and St John
o With God and the Holy Spirit as the Trinity
 The vanishing point has to line up with eyes, foot of the cross
Filippo Brunelleschi – dome of Florence Cathedral
o Greatest architectural feat of the period
o Started with Arnolfo di Cambio and others, Florence Cathedral
o Brunelleschi and Ghiberti compete again , Ghiberti gets fired
o Internal buttresses, 8 massive ribs, dome itself is hollow
o Invented machinery to use to build dome