Hieronymus Bosch : Hieronymus Bosch and the Lisbon Temptation : a view from the third millennium

Long before computer games were invented, Hieronymus Bosch was painting terrifying yet strangely likable monsters, often with a touch of humour. His works are assertive statements about the mental dangers that befall those who abandon the teachings of Christ. With a life that spanned 1450 to 1516, Bosch was born at the height of the Renaissance and witnessed its religious wars. Medieval traditions and values were crumbling, paving the way for a new universe where faith had lost its power and much of its magic. Bosch set out to warn doubters of the perils awaiting all and any who lost their faith in God. Believing that everyone had to make their own moral choices, he focused on themes of hell, heaven and lust, brilliantly exploiting the symbolism of a wide range of fruits and plants which lent his imagery strong sexual overtones.

Hieronymus Bosch was painting terrifying yet strangely likable monsters, often with a touch of humour, long before computer games were invented. His works are assertive statements about the mental illness that befalls any man who abandons the teachings of Christ. With a life that spanned 1450 to 1516, Bosch was born at the height of the Renaissance and witnessed its religious wars. Medieval traditions and values were crumbling, paving the way to thrust man into a new universe where faith had lost its power and much of its magic. Bosch set out to warn doubters of the perils awaiting all and any who lost their faith in God. His favorite allegories were hell, heaven and lust. He held that everyone had to choose between one of two options: either heaven or hell. Bosch brilliantly exploited the symbolism of a wide range of fruits and plants to lend sexual overtones to his themes, which author Virginia Pitts Rembert meticulously deciphers to provide readers with new insight into this fascinating artist and his works.

Hieronymus Bosch was painting terrifying, yet strangely likeable, monsters, long before computer games were invented, often with a touch of humour. His works are assertive statements about the mental dangers that befall those who abandon the teachings of Christ. With a life that spanned from 1450 to 1516, Bosch was born at the height of the Renaissance and witnessed its wars of religion. Medieval traditions and values were crumbling, thrusting man into a new universe where faith had lost some of its power and much of its magic. Bosch set out to warn doubters of the perils awaiting all and any who lost their faith in God. Believing that everyone had to make their own moral choices, he focused on themes of hell, heaven and lust. He brilliantly exploited the symbolism of a wide range of fruits and plants to lend sexual overtones to his themes. Contents......Page 5 Introduction......Page 7 The Literature on Bosch toWilhelm Fränger......Page 15 Fränger’s Thesis (Epiphanies and Absurdities)......Page 29 Fränger and Beyond......Page 61 A More Prosaic View......Page 77 Saint Anthony......Page 103 Temptation by the desires of the flesh......Page 107 Temptation by physical torture......Page 110 All the demons of hell are unleashed......Page 113 Further Temptations as recounted by Anthony himself......Page 114 Final Temptations......Page 117 The Prince of Darkness......Page 124 The Society of Witches......Page 127 Other Sorcerers and Necromancers......Page 136 The Tarot......Page 141 Alchemy......Page 145 The Lisbon Triptych......Page 159 Conclusion......Page 193 Notes......Page 196 Index......Page 197 Bibliography......Page 198