Renaissance Blog

-

Death and the Miser by Hieronymus Bosch, oil on paint, circa 1485/1490 Netherlandish 

Author  

Hieronymus Bosch was born in 1450 in the Netherlands. Not much is known about his life as he left behind no journals, the only evidence of is existence are his artworks he left behind as well as brief references in municipal records of where he was born. 

Painting 

The painting "Death and the Miser" illustrates a busy scene of a Miser moments before his death. The painting makes great use of line work by having many of the creatures in the scene pointing towards or at something. 


Death at the door pointing an arrow towards the Miser as well as an angel pointing up towards the crucifix at his window and perhaps a demon trying to bargain with the Miser using money in exchange for his soul, all images use line work and make the eye travel all across the painting.

Bosch and Humanism

Humanism is a belief of putting more importance on humans other then the divine or supernatural causes. While most of Boschs work have humanity implemented into them the focal point of the paintings are what is happening to the person in the circumstances in said painting. According to Michael Proger of NewStatesMan "Bosch did not celebrate human folly, he painted it as an affront, innate perhaps, to God’s order. Mankind, for him, found it so much easier to disobey God’s strictures than to obey them, and humanity was one long parade. The people in his pictures – the misers, the licentious, the drunken, as well as, far less often, the devout – are always on their way to one of only two destinations: heaven or hell." 

Painting connection towards humanism 

The painting shows the moments of a mans death and all forms of "death" influencing them. Symbolism of "good" and "evil" are found throughout the painting, but the Miser seems more afraid then convinced by any of the imagery around him. Humanism also values rational ways of solving problems and the Miser is unable to make a rational decision with all the chaos that is happening around him. The painting has us empathize with the old mans death as well as put us in the chaos that is surrounding him. 

References 

Hieronymus Bosch. 13 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch.

Death and the Miser. www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.41645.html.

Prodger, Michael, and Michael Prodger is associate editor at the New Statesman. He is an art historian. How Hieronymus Bosch Defied the Ideals of an Age, 21 Mar. 2016, www.newstatesman.com/culture/art-design/2016/03/how-hieronymus-bosch-defied-ideals-age.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introductions!

-
Image
 Hello!      My name is Sarah Williams I am 23 years old and I'm a theater performance major with a film minor.  I was born and raised in Wasilla, Alaska and moved around for a year to Kansas City, Missouri as well as Salem, Oregon until I moved back home to Alaska last year! The photo below is from a UAF production called This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl does nothing. I am the one holding a teacup!       I have performed theater since I was 13 years old and have stared in three UAF main stage productions and three student productions as well as doing behind the scenes tech work like stage managing.       Other then theater I have also acted in three student films and even wrote, directed and produced my own film called "Purse". If you are interested you may watch it on YouTube linked here        I am vastly interested in art history and paintings. When I discovered the artist who is now my favorite painter Rene Magritte, I felt understood in my personal artis
Read more

Societal Emotions and The Great Depression: Early Modern Blog

-
Image
    The Great Depression and Complicated Emotions      The Great Depression not only affected American citizens economically but damaged overall moral and confidence. America was no longer the "winner" globally anymore and the existentialism of the everyday life started to become more apparent then the idealized American dream. The Great Depression was an economic collapse worldwide that created a societal fear of repression, monotony and overall unfairness that were complicated and otherwise unrepresented emotions that the Surrealist, Dada and The Harlem Renaissance art movements were able to express.   Dada       Dada is known for being more of an artistic protest towards social, economic and cultural values of the early 1920's and 30's. While many pieces in the movement have been debated as "art' the artist  George Grosz took a more serious route from the often "funny" approach of Dada to a more focused expression of his disgust at the cruelty a
Read more

Celebrities' Influence in Mid and Post Modern Times

-
Image
Introduction  Celebrities' influence in modern culture as well as their wealth have influenced which artist become popular due to celebrities' wanting to collect art from them. I will be going over three artists that celebrities collect art from in our modern times.  Lawrence Harris   Lake Superior, c. 1923 Oil on canvas North Shore, Lake Superior, 1926 Oil on canvas   Lawrence Harris is an American painter who was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1937. He has studied art in both the United States and Europe. Harris is known for both impressionistic paintings and abstract compositions. The paintings above are inspired by Canadas nature and environment and inspired Steve Martin to co-curate an exhibition called "The Idea of North". These paintings colors,line work and illusion of light give that exact title in my opinion. These paintings give the feeling of northenr cold weather and nature with the blues and greys symbolizing the cold with beaming light from the s
Read more