AH2 Chapter 20

Northern Europe, 1400 to 1500

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The Black Forest

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Odin

5Der Ring des Nibelungen

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Immanence and Transendence

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Immanence

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Immanence

“Katrina”

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Act of God?

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OR…….

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Immanence

Supernatural forces that are“immanental” are usually “bad”

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15Paradise Lost

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18Transendence

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According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the natural laws of the universe.

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TRANSCENDENCE

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IMMANENCE

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Europe in the 15th Century

MASTER OF MARY OF BURGUNDY, Mary of Burgundy at Prayer, folios 14 verso and 15 recto of the Hours of Mary of Burgundy, ca. 1480. Colors and ink on parchment, illumination on left page 7 3/8” X 5 1/8”. Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

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LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, JEAN, HERMAN), January, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416. Ink on vellum, approx. 8 7/8" X 5 3/8". Musée Condé, Chantilly.

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LIMBOURG BROTHERS (POL, JEAN, HERMAN), October, from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1413–1416. Ink on vellum, 8 7/8" X 5 3/8”. Musée Condé, Chantilly.

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Altarpiece

ROBERT CAMPIN (MASTER OF FLEMALLE), Merode Altarpiece (open), ca. 1425-1428. Oil on wood, center panel 2’ 1 3/8” X 2’ 7/8”, each wing 2’ 1 3/8” X 10 7/8”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The Cloisters Collection, 1956).

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detail

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detail

detail

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Linseed Oil Paint

Oil “glazing” technique

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JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece (closed), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432. Oil on wood, 11’ 6" X 7’ 6".

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JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece (closed), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432. Oil on wood, 11’ 6" X 7’ 6".

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JAN VAN EYCK, Ghent Altarpiece (open), Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium, completed 1432. Oil on wood, 11’ 5" X 15’ 1”.

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DIRK BOUTS, Last Supper central panel of the Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament, Saint Peter’s, Louvain, Belgium, 1464–1468. Oil on wood, 6’ X 5’.

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JAN VAN EYCK, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride, 1434. Oil on wood, approx. 2’ 9" X 1’ 10 1/2". National Gallery, London.

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JAN VAN EYCK, Man in a Red Turban, 1433. Oil on wood, 1’ 1 1/8” X 10 1/4". National Gallery, London.

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ROGIER VAN DER WEYDEN, Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1460. Oil on panel, 1’ 1 3/8" X 10 1/16". National Gallery, Washington, D.C. (Andrew W. Mellon Collection).

HIERONYMUS BOSCH, Garden of Earthly Delights, 1505-1510. Oil on wood, center panel 7’ 2 5/8” X 6’ 4 ¾”, each wing 7’ 2 5/8” X 3’ 2 ¼”. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

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The impression of a life lived without consequence, or what art historian Hans Belting describes as "unspoilt and immoral existence", is underscored by the absence of children and old people.

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Mystery manThe woman below him lies within a semi-cylindrical transparent shield, while her mouth is sealed, devices implying that she bears a secret.

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One woman carries a cherry on her head, a common symbol of pride at the time, as can be deduced from the contemporaneous saying: "Don't eat cherries with great lords–they'll throw the pits in your face."

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According to the second and third chapters of Genesis, Adam and Eve's children were born after they were expelled from Eden. This has led some commentators, in particular Belting, to theorise that the panel represents the world if the two had not been driven out "among the thorns and thistles of the world". In Fränger's view, the scene illustrates:

a Utopia, a garden of divine delight before the Fall, or—since Bosch could not deny the existence of the dogma of Original Sin—a millennial condition that would arise if, after expiation of Original Sin, humanity were permitted to return to Paradise and to a state of tranquil harmony embracing all Creation.

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Detail showing nudes cavorting within a transparent sphere. What appear to be cracks in the sphere, may forecast the fragility of joyful passion. The figures' arms are entwined, while the female's head bends towards the male's attentive mouth. Their innocence contrasts with the atmosphere of the right-hand panel, where human figures are depicted in shame of their nakedness.[

Symbolism in Bosch Paintings…

• Pigs = false priests; gluttony

• Fruit = carnal pleasure

• Rats = lies against the Church;  filth; sex

• Fish = false prophets; lewdness

• Closed Books = futility of knowledge in dealing with human stupidity

• Keys = knowledge

• Lutes and Harps = instruments for praise of God and pursuit of earthly love

• Ears = gossip

• Mussel Shells = infidelity

• Black Birds = unbelievers

• Knives = punishment of evil

• Rabbits = multiplication of the race

• Eggs = sexual creation

• Funnels = deceit and intemperance

• Strawberries = fleeting joys of life, love

• Owls = great learning/knowledge

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“Adamites”

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• Wilhelm Fraenger argued that the triptych's center panel portrays a joyous world when humanity will experience a rebirth of the innocence enjoyed by Adam and Eve before their fall. In his book The Millennium of Hieronymus Bosch, Fraenger wrote that Bosch was a member of the heretical sect known as the Adamites — who were also known as the Homines intelligentia and Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit. This radical group, active in the area of the Rhine and the Netherlands, strove for a form of spirituality immune from sin even in the flesh and imbued the concept of lust with a paradisical innocence.

• Fraenger believed The Garden of Earthly Delights was commissioned by the order's Grand Master. Later critics have agreed that, because of their obscure complexity, Bosch's "altarpieces" may well have been commissioned for non-devotional purposes. The Homines intelligentia cult sought to regain the innocent sexuality enjoyed by Adam and Eve before the Fall. Fraenger writes that the figures in Bosch's work "are peacefully frolicking about the tranquil garden in vegetative innocence, at one with animals and plants and the sexuality that inspires them seems to be pure joy, pure bliss."

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PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER, Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559. Oil on wood, 3’ 10” x 5’ 4 1/8”. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin.