Hieronymus Bosch
The Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch lived and worked in the late Middle Ages (1450-1516) - and yet his surreal imagery seems incredibly modern. He combined the grotesque with the satirical in an incomparable way and so made the vicious humanity look in the mirror. This kind of artistic perspective was taken over by surrealists centuries later.
In the art history Hieronymus Bosch was known as "the Bosch case ", as people didn’t know what to do with him. For a few hundred years he was completely forgotten, there is hardly any biographical information, and his works do not fit with his time at all. The painting of the late Gothic and early Renaissance were rather characterised with realism and grace, however, Bosch created revolutionary works: hideous hybrids of humans and animals, hunchbacked demons, creatures with bird bodies and eyeglasses, strange tree people and other bizarre characters. Yet Bosch was a respected artist in his time, and had admirers of high rang: Philip the Fair or Margaret of Austria, regent of Netherlands were obviously fascinated by this unique imagery.
In the art history Hieronymus Bosch was known as "the Bosch case ", as people didn’t know what to do with him. For a few hundred years he was completely forgotten, there is hardly any biographical information, and his works do not fit with his time at all. The painting of the late Gothic and early Renaissance were rather characterised with realism and grace, however, Bosch created revolutionary works: hideous hybrids of humans and animals, hunchbacked demons, creatures with bird bodies and eyeglasses, strange tree people and other bizarre characters. Yet Bosch was a respected artist in his time, and had admirers of high rang: Philip the Fair or Margaret of Austria, regent of Netherlands were obviously fascinated by this unique imagery.
