Jheronimus Bosch (’s-Hertogenbosch c. 1450 - ’s-Hertogenbosch 1516) manner of

Jheronimus Bosch came from a prodigiously artistic family. His great-grandfather, Thomas van Aken, his grandfather Jan and his father Antonius were all painters. His grandfather left Aachen for Nijmegen and then moved to ’s-Hertogenbosch, where he is first documented in 1427. Four of his sons became painters as well. The youngest, Antonius, married Aleid van der Mynnen, and their three sons, Goessen, Jheronimus and Jan all once again followed their father’s profession.

Bosch is mentioned – usually with just his forename Jheronimus or Jeroen – in a number of documents drawn up in ’s-Hertogenbosch between 1474 and 1516. In the earliest of them, dated 5 April 1474, he acted together with his father and brothers as witnesses for his sister Katherijn. The artist used the toponym Bosch to sign a few of his works ‘Jheronimus Bosch’. He probably trained in his father’s workshop.

Between July 1477 and June 1481, Bosch married Aleid van der Meervenne, who was born into quite a well-to-do family in Oirschot, a village south of ’s-Hertogenbosch. In the city they moved into her house, ‘Inden Salvator’ (In the Saviour), but it is not known precisely when. Bosch became prosperous, thanks to his wife, and began moving in the city’s higher social circles, which included the influential Brotherhood of Our Lady. He became an ordinary member in 1486-87, and was elected a sworn brother the following year, 1487-88. That Jheronimus Bosch was quite well off can be deduced from tax returns. Bosch was probably one of the victims of an outbreak of the plague in ’s-Hertogenbosch in the summer of 1516. He was buried in the churchyard of the city’s St Janskerk. His patrons belonged to the circle of the Burgundian Habsburg Court and the wealthy bourgeoisie in Brabant.

Regrettably, the surviving documents contain little information about Bosch’s activities as an artist. The only documented commission for a painting dates from September 1504, when he was asked to paint a Last Judgement for Philip the Handsome, Duke of Brabant, which indicates that he was a recognised artist. Apart from that, only a few minor commissions are recorded, among others for polychroming an altarpiece and for designing a crucifix.

Opinions on the attribution of the paintings differ considerably. None of the paintings are dated, and their chronology is the subject of much discussion. Until 2010, more than 30 paintings were attributed to Bosch, of which nine are signed ‘Jheronimus Bosch’. Between 2010 and 2015 the Dutch Bosch Research and Conservation Project (BRCP) investigated most of them and concluded that whereas 21 are works made by the master himself, four are from his workshop, seven were executed by followers, and two are either made by his workshop or by a follower.³³The results are published in Ilsink et al. 2016 and the technical aspects in Hoogstede et al. 2016.

Eight of these 21 paintings are triptychs: The Garden of Earthly Delights triptych,⁴⁴Madrid, Prado Museum: Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 356-79, no. 21. probably commissioned by Engelbert van Nassau (1451-1504), the two versions of The Haywain,⁵⁵Madrid, Prado Museum: Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 356-79, no. 21 and a copy in San Lorenzo de El Escorial: Hoogstede et al. 2016, pp. 422-45, no. S 1 (follower after 1525); illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. 111, pls. 103-06. The Last Judgement, signed,⁶⁶Bruges, Groeningemuseum; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 278-89, no. 16. The Last Judgement with Saint James the Apostle and Saint Bavo (or Saint Hippolyte),⁷⁷Vienna, Akademie der Bildende Künste; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 290-307, no. 17. The Temptation of St Antony, signed,⁸⁸Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 140-59, no. 4; illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. 90, pls. 75-78; see SK-A-1795. Hermits Saints Triptych Sts Jerome, Antony and Giles, signed,⁹⁹Venice, Palazzo Ducale; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 122-31, no. 2; illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. 98, pl. 86. The Adoration of the Magi,¹⁰¹⁰Madrid, Prado Museum; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 198-215, no. 9; the identification of the coats of arms of the donors (Peeter Schreyfve and Agneese de Gramme, Antwerp) makes a dating of c. 1494-1505 probable; illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. 68, pls. 47-49; see SK-A-124. and The Martyrdom of St Wilgefortis, signed ‘Julia’ (?).¹¹¹¹Venice, Palazzo Ducale; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 188-97, no. 10; illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. 99, pls. 87-89. Three individual panels are also signed: St John on Patmos,¹²¹²Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 161-79, no. 6; illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. 101, pls. 90-91. St Christopher,¹³¹³Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 180-87, no. 7; illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. suppl. 131, pl. 114. and Tabletop of the Seven Deadly Sins.¹⁴¹⁴Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 468-74, no. 34 as workshop or follower, denied by Silva Maroto in Madrid 2016, pp. 303-12, no. 40; illustrated in ENP V, 1969, no. 104, pl. 95.

Although most specialists now agree that other members of the workshop participated in the execution of many of Bosch’s works, Koreny attributed a number of major works, such as The Haywain triptych, the Lissabon triptych and The Last Judgement in Bruges, to his pupils.¹⁵¹⁵Koreny 2012, pp. 86-113. To complicate matters, several works are known only through copies. Jheronimus Bosch was hugely popular in the second half of the 16th century, and this gave rise to the large number of copies and pastiches executed long after his death that have survived. The latter group (see SK-A-3113, SK-A-1601, SK-A-3240, SK-A-1673, SK-A-4131) consists of new inventions in Bosch’s style using elements or quotations from his paintings.

References
Van Mander 1604, fols. 216v-17r; Cohen in Thieme/Becker IV, 1910, pp. 386-90; Friedländer V, 1927, pp. 70-106; De Tolnay 1937, pp. 75-82; Baldass 1943, pp. 5-82; De Tolnay 1965, pp. 407-08; Gerlach 1967; ENP V, 1969, pp. 45-58; Marijnissen 1987, pp. 11-14; Miedema III, 1996, pp. 48-58; Gibson in Saur XIII, 1996, pp. 160-62; Vandenbroeck in Turner 1996, IV, pp. 445-54; Van Dijck 2001, pp. 139-205; Vink 2001; Silver 2006, pp. 127-59; Huys Janssen 2007; Koreny 2012, pp. 86-113; ’s-Hertogenbosch 2016, pp. 11-12; Schwartz 2016, pp. 36-52; Ilsink et al. 2016, pp. 13-32; Madrid 2016, pp. 17-41; BoschDoc

J. Bogers, 2010
Updated by J.P. Filedt Kok, 2016