The Story of Dutch Painter Hieronymus Bosch

The painter Hieronymus Bosch was born in the Netherlands in the town ‘s-Hertogenbosch sometime between the years 1449 and 1456. Records show that his birth name was Jeroen or Jheronimus van Aken.

In the days long before personal preference dictated a man’s future, the custom in Bosch’s day was that young men were to be trained in the family craft. Fortunately for art’s sake, Bosch was born into a family of painters. We can only assume that the young Hieronymus learned his profession as an apprentice in the family workshop, located in a house on the central market square. It is highly likely that as Hieronymus’s dad, Anthonis, bought such a large stone house right in the middle of the town square, the van Akens were extremely well off as a family.

As the years progressed, Hieronymus decided that as a painter he would go by the Latin version of his first name, and thus Jeroen or Jheronimus swiftly became Hieronymus. He then replaced his family name, van Aken, with Bosch, a dedication to his home town. Other artists both before and after him did much the same, and signed their works ‘Bos’ or ‘Van den Bossche’ in reference to the town of ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Most historians have concluded that Hieronymus probably married in the year 1481 to a woman named Aleyt Goyarts van den Meervenne. Hieronymus’s new wife shared the name of his mother also, and for awhile this confused scholars who originally mistook Hieronymus’s mother for his wife. Aleyt Goyarts van den Meervenne also came from a wealthy family and once married, custom dictated that Aleyt’s fortune was neither hers nor her husband’s to spend at will. Hieronymus was responsible for maintaining and multiplying her dowry so that it could eventually be returned to her intact, along with a percentage of their joint earnings that were accumulated during their marriage in the event of his early death.

Once married, Hieronymus and his wife would have easily been in the highest economic stratum in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. This allowed Hieronymus the artistic freedom to paint as he pleased as his livelihood didn’t depend on his art. Hieronymus prospered both economically and socially as evidenced by his membership in the confraternity The Brotherhood of Our Lady.

An organization such as this one required support in the way of both money and service. The Brotherhood of Our Lady were dedicated to the performance of the Seven Acts of Mercy and did those things listed in the gospel of Matthew such as feeding the hungry, giving shelter to travelers, clothing the poor and visiting the sick. All members performed charitable services such as these. Both Hieronymus and his brother Goessens were the third generations of the van Aken family to be honored by membership of the Brotherhood of Our Lady.

Hieronymus’s membership with the Brotherhood of Our Lady provided him with further opportunities for patronage at every conceivable level from civic, private and ecclesiastical to bourgeois and aristocratic. His status provided an even wider entry into wealth and privilege. Many of Bosch’s paintings were bought by the ruling nobility and other notables of his lifetime such as Queen Isabella of Spain and Cardinal Domenico Grimani, who was a major political figure from an aristocratic house of Venetian doges. His paintings were loved both far and wide and imitated by many painters, including the wonderful Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The origins of Bosch’s style of painting follows the tradition of Northern Renaissance art that was introduced in the first half of the 15th Century by Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. These three artists worked mainly on wooden panels with pigments that were suspended in oil. Paintings were intended to be read like texts, and artists would frequently collaborate with scholars or religious advisers when they planned their compositions. The idea that there was a deeper meaning hidden beneath the surface of art pervaded the entire culture of that era; poets created enigmatic verse and composers created pictures of sound which was described later as “the secret Netherlandish art.” Netherlandish artists also enhanced human emotions by heavily exaggerating facial features and this is clearly a style that was used by Hieronymus himself.

Hieronymus, like other thinkers of his era, was very interested in how human nature struggled against temptations, which is shown in his painting “The Seven Deadly Sins.” Bosch’s many sinners seem almost to be a form of entertainment for the divine God.

Alchemy and astrology both played an important role in each person’s life of Hieronymus’s day. Both kings and popes practiced alchemy and it was supported by the most learned practitioners of the day. It was also believed that the qualities of the natal planet that each person was born under was bred into his or her bones, and even plants and gems carried planetary powers. As such, both alchemy and astrology were both featured in Hieronymus’s work along with religion.

Bosch’s fame increased even more rapidly after his death in 1516 and many sixteenth century artists not only imitated him, but directly copied his paintings, some even signing his name. This was long before copyright laws were in existence and these blatant copies were deemed a sign of flattery at the time. In the past 50 years there has been a revival of interest in Bosch led by the Dutch and by an exhibition of his works in Rotterdam in 1967.

Sources: www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch, www.boschuniverse.com, wikipedia