Renaissance

Hieronymus Bosch

The Last Judgement, Vienna

" The painter seems to to have been influenced in certain details by the last, most obscure and terrifying book of the New Testament, the Revelation of John, also known as the Apocalypse " Andrew Graham-Dixon, Renaissance (1999) 

" he seems to have developed the devil-haunted imagination which is so characteristic of the late middle ages " Peter and Linda Murray, The Art of the Renaissance (1963)

The fear of the end of the world reached worldwide epidemic proportions during the 1490's and the Last Judgement by Hieronymus Bosch is the foremost painting prophetising the end of the world as he did not follow conventions of the other painters.

" Bosch forsook the traditional arrangement of a Last Judgement, with the damned to Christ's left and blessed to his right.  " Andrew Graham-Dixon, Renaissance (1999)

Composition

" sources of Bosch's inspiration may have been oral, written or figural traditions, but his demonology is essentially a product of his imagination, an imagination unique of its kind, prodigious, irrepressible. " Jaques Lassaigne and Robert L. Delevoy, Flemish Painters (1958)

In this painting a small selection of people are gathered with Christ in the top of the central panel, the bottom section of the painting shows the people suffering in all sorts of ingenius designs Bosch has thought up,  represented in this work are each of the seven deadly sins warding people away from committing them otherwise they would end up in Hell, which to Bosch looks like this.

The left panel is representing the Garden of Eden, however this is not represented in the typical manner,  there are scarcely any people shown in this panel, this makes me think the purpose of the empty garden is because Bosch thought that the people on Earth were sinners and did not deserve to be allowed into the garden.
Adam and Eve are stood underneath the Tree of Knowledge and Eve is offering the fruit to him, another figure in the tree is also offering a fruit to Adam, this is representing the first sin that mankind has done. Further up the panel a sword wielding angel is chasing some figures out of the garden although it is unsure why.

Detail of the Left Panel

The central panel and the panel on the right are representing Hell on Earth and Hell with many gruesome tortures taking place, towards the bottom of the centre panel is a kitchen like space where the woman in the centre of the image below is frying bodies, between her and the pan are two eggs which symbolize sexual creation. The woman above her is also cooking another body using a rotisserie. The bottom corner of the image below shows a man in repent, I think the artist has shown this because he thinks that if you sin on Earth even if you try to repent in Hell then you must be punished still, I think it is a warning not to sin.

Detail of the Right Panel

 " The unconventional composition of Bosch's triptych extends to its iconography, to the extent that its precise subject is not entirely clear. " Andrew Graham-Dixon, Renaissance (1999)

Similar Painter Hans Memling

" Other painters had treated the same subject powerfully, but no one, before or since, has had the creative intensity and ability to actualize the dreaded unknown in such fantastic images. This is particularly true in the devils, demons, evil spirits and unnerving monsters that Bosch created to inhabit the nether world. " Here 

Similar in design to Hieronymus Bosch's Last Judgement, Vienna, is Hans Memling's own version also titled Last Judgement though Memling does not show the tortures that the condemned are to go through, or does he show Heaven, only the entrance gate.

Hans Memling, The Last Judgement

In the left side panel the righteous and worthy have been sent up to Heaven, where St. Peter welcomes them and angels are guiding them up the path and into Heaven's gateway. On top of the turrets angel musicians are playing and overall this version seems as though many people will be accepted into Heaven, rather than Bosch's version where the fields of Heaven are empty. I think the people of this time would have preferred this version of the Last Judgement as they can then reassure themselves with the knowledge of getting into Heaven.

The dead are rising from their graves in the centre panel, however the main subject of this panel is the archangel Michael who is weighing them on his scales. This representation reminds me of the Egyptian Weighing of the Heart ceremony. Above the angel Jesus is watching over the process, I think this was so that people knew the process was going to be fair and everybody would be judged, not just condemned. In the background on the left is an angel and a devilish figure both holding one side of a man, this looks to me as though even though the archangel is sending people to both sides the guardians of Hell are trying to take more people. On the other side of the background other devilish figures are stopping the condemned from trying to escape the fires of Hell.

The right side panel shows people being thrown into the flames of Hell with devilish figures watching over them. I find it interesting that an angel has been painted on this side of the scene and my interpretation is that it is either an angel there to watch over them and provide some comfort in the peoples final moments or that Memling is portraying the fallen angel Lucifer (also known as Satan) who could see himself as an angel still because he is punishing the evil.


Sources

• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/
• http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/bosch5.html
• http://www.historyofpainters.com/bosch.htm
• http://www.artbible.info/art/large/309.html

• Andrew Graham-Dixon, Renaissance (1999)
• Jaques Lassaigne and Robert L. Delevoy, Flemish Painters (1958)
• Peter and Linda Murray, The Art of the Renaissance (1963)