BO Bosch 4C.qxp
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Conclusion
Q
uestions are natural to the viewer’s mind. Answers are inevitable – but they should not be automatically assigned to Bosch’s mind. It is not possible to determine the exact conclusions the painter meant to draw, or whether he intended any specific implications in the subplots of his works. Not even the painter himself could have given a rational explanation of all the separate units of The Temptation of Saint Anthony altarpiece. This is not to say, however, that there is no reason in this painting. If the triptych is considered as a whole, it is seen to be organised in a logical, even conventional fashion. The saint is placed in the centre of the central panel, the elements arranged around him with a certain amount of symmetrical planning. There is a planar progression in the painting and a “closing” of the composition, the side panels being so designed that the saint, placed in the same position in each, turns towards the centre. Bosch’s perspective is not accurate, but scientific means had not yet penetrated Northern art. In some ways, the painter anticipated the Baroque style in his diagonal positioning of the fortress and the painterly effects he achieved, especially in the area of the fire. He attempted aerial perspective and in his later paintings (such as the Prado Epiphany) achieved mature results. De Tolnay believed that Bosch’s purposeful misuse (or his unwitting disuse) of either form of perspective, combined with the immateriality of some of his figures due to their painterly handling, give the Saint Anthony painting the appearance of an aquarium with the figures floating like apparitions in a vertical space. He described the artist’s use of colour as enhancing this impression, as he placed warm, rich colours around the edges of the painting and ashy, silvery colours in the centre. This subversion of the natural colour scheme would emphasise the unreality of the setting. Whatever the means employed by the artist to achieve his effects and whether they were fully intentional or not, it is certain that he did intend to convey the impression of evil. In fact, it should always be kept in mind that this was the painter’s central motivation. The desire to record the pervasiveness of evil in the world and in its many guises was such an extraordinarily religious drive with Bosch that it gives direction when there seems to be none and offers control when that virtue seems to have been forgotten. It was with full awareness of this central purpose that Bosch created an orderly arrangement in which the agents of evil swarm in profusion and confusion. Holding the control of awareness over the whole, the artist relaxed it in the parts. It is only when an attempt is made to analyse the individual parts that the basic order is forgotten and chaos seems to reign. The baffled viewer then decides that Bosch was either a mad projectionist of his uncontrolled hallucinations, or that he hid his rational meaning in a labyrinth of symbolism to which someone, someday, will find the map. There can be no rational interpretation of these paintings. Nor does this mean that Hieronymus Bosch was mad. With a fully rational mind this artist set his stage; then, (to
Bosch follower, Christ among the Doctors, 1555-1561. 74 x 58 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
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