Hieronymus Bosch

Hieronymus Bosch (/haɪˈrɒnɪməs bɒʃ, bɔːʃ, bɔːs/; Dutch: [ɦijeːˈroːnimʏz ˈbɔs] ^ⓘ; born Jheronimus van Aken [jeːˈroːnimʏs fɑn ˈaːkə(n)]; c. 1450 – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oak wood, mainly contains fantastic illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. Within his lifetime, his work was collected in the Netherlands, Austria, and Spain, and widely copied, especially his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell.

Little is known of Bosch's life, though there are some records. He spent most of it in the town of 's-Hertogenbosch, where he was born in his grandfather's house. The roots of his forefathers are in Nijmegen and Aachen (reflected in his surname, Van Aken). His original, fantastical style cast a wide influence on northern art of the 16th century; Pieter Bruegel the Elder was his best-known follower. Today, Bosch is seen as a highly individualistic artist who offered profound insights into humanity's desires and deepest fears. Attribution of his work has been especially difficult; today only about 25 paintings are confidently given to his hand along with eight drawings. About another half-dozen paintings are confidently attributed to his workshop. His most acclaimed works consist of three triptych altarpieces, particularly The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Hieronymus Bosch's first name was originally Jheronimus (or Joen, respectively the Latin and Middle Dutch form of the name "Jerome"), and he signed a number of his paintings as Jheronimus Bosch.

The surname Bosch derives from his birthplace, 's-Hertogenbosch ('Duke's forest'), which, in Holland, is commonly called "Den Bosch" ('the forest').

Little is known of Bosch's life or training. He left behind no letters or diaries, and known references to him have been taken from brief mentions in the municipal records of 's-Hertogenbosch, and in the account books of the local religious confraternity, the order of the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady. Nothing is known of his personality, nor of his thoughts on the meaning of his art. Bosch's date of birth has not been determined with certainty. It is estimated at c. 1450, on the basis of a hand-drawn portrait (which may be a self-portrait) made shortly before his death in 1516. The drawing shows the artist at an advanced age, probably in his late sixties.

Bosch lived all his life in and near 's-Hertogenbosch, in the Duchy of Brabant. His grandfather Jan van Aken (died 1454) was a painter and is first mentioned in the records in 1430. Jan had five sons, four of whom were also painters. Bosch's father, Anthonius van Aken (died c. 1478), acted as artistic adviser to the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady. It is generally assumed that either Bosch's father or one of his uncles taught the artist to paint, but none of their works survives. Bosch first appears in the municipal record on 5 April 1474, when he is named along with two brothers and a sister.

's-Hertogenbosch was a flourishing city in 15th-century Brabant, in the south of the present-day Netherlands, which at the time was part of the Burgundian Netherlands. It was originally under the control of the Duchy of Brabant before being passed through marriage to the Habsburgs. In 1463, 4,000 houses in the town were destroyed by a catastrophic fire, which the (approximately) thirteen-year-old Bosch presumably witnessed. He became a popular painter in his lifetime and often received commissions from abroad. In 1486/7, he joined the highly respected Brotherhood of Our Lady, a devotional confraternity of some 40 influential citizens of 's-Hertogenbosch, and 7,000 "outer-members" from around Europe.

Sometime between 1479 and 1481, Bosch married Aleid Goyaerts van den Meervenne, who was a few years his senior. The couple moved to the nearby town of Oirschot, where Aleid Goyaerts van den Meervenne had inherited a house and land from her wealthy family. An entry in the accounts of the Brotherhood of Our Lady records Bosch's death in 1516. A memorial funeral mass was held in the church of Saint John on 9 August of that year.