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What Is Bosch's Epitomizes The Believing Impulse?

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It is hard to imagine anything more fascinating for an art historian than the symbolism in the works of Hieronymus Bosch. In fact, very little is concretely known about Bosch’s life. This muteness makes the master who was so fond of setting riddles a riddle himself . Perhaps, it is vain to surmise exactly what influenced Bosche’s kunstwollen. For this reason, a biographical approach will not suffice in coming to terms with a specific creative impulse. This essay endeavors to explain why the triptych painting The Garden of Earthly Delight, epitomizes the Believing Impulse. This category evidences an interest in the divine as a dominant value. This value guides representation of the unseen world in visual media. It is an expression of the relationship between humans and the divine, and between the mundane and divine world(s). The Garden of Earthly Delight is believed to be a commissioned work. In the Burgundian Netherlands, Counts were powerful players who likely commissioned the piece. The Netherlands was under the influence of the medieval church, which bred two mutually antagonistic patrons to Bosches work: The traditional guardians of the alter, and a radical opponent who kept the traditional form of the altarpiece while at the same time destroying its old meaning . …show more content…

The demarcation between magic and art, and magic and religion during this time was cloudy. Elements of mystery were important to the thought process of the time, and could not be disengaged from their definition of science. Therefore, Bosches imagery seems to fit neatly into the frames of alchemy, a fossil science, where he aimed to materialize the spiritual, and connect man to God. The Garden of Earthly Delight follows the medieval alchemical stages of the period: Conjunction, multiplication, putrefaction, and resurrection, to beautifully frame The Believing

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