1514_Flood_panels_outsides_Bosch.txt

Jheronimus Bosch ca. 1450 – 1516
Flood panels, outsides

oil on panel (69 × 36 cm and 69 × 39 cm) — c. 1514
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

These are the reverse sides of the left and right wings of a triptych. The insides show the world before and after the Flood. The central panel is lost.

Each panel contains two tondos (roundels) with allegorical pictures. Bosch' message seems to be that true faith can save a man from the devil.

In the upper left tondo, someone is being beaten by a devil in a gate. A woman flees from the violence; a man kneels and prays.

In the lower left tondo, the devil has taken the plough from the farmer, who lies on the ground.

In the upper right a man is being attacked by three demons. In the lower right tondo, Jesus is blessing the same man. In the background scene an angel is seen handing the man some clothes.

Jheronimus Bosch biography

Jheronimus Bosch

ca. 1450 - 1516

Jherominus Bosch, a.k.a. Hieronymus Bosch, Jeroen Bosch or Jerome Bosch. Dutch mediaeval painter. Born as Jeroen van Aecken in the city of Den Bosch a.k.a. 's-Hertogenbosch (the Duke's forest) or Bois-le-Duc in French, major city in the southern province of Brabant.

Jeroen Bosch lives in turbulent times. Europe is haunted by the plague and many fear for the end of times. More tragedy befalls the inhabitants of Den Bosch when much of their city is destroyed in a fire in 1463.

These events must have influenced Jeroen Bosch's work, characterized as it is by fear, horror, sin and disaster. His fantastic style and innovative themes contrast sharply with the realistic and somewhat serene work of his contemporaries. Only such an extraordinary talent as Bosch's could have taken such innovation to the top.

His work is greatly admired at the time of his life, nationally and internationally, e.g. at the Castilian court. King Philip the Handsome of Spain himself commissions The Last Judgment.

A member of the prominent Brotherhood of Our Lady, a deeply pious lot, Jeroen Bosch is probably a very devout man. His work is riddled with religious symbolism. The complete collection of his works comprises 25 paintings and 8 drawings. He only signed a few of his works, with 'Jheronimus Bosch'.

Jeroen Bosch probably spent most of his life in Den Bosch. He was married to Aleid van de Meervenne, a young woman from a wealthy family.