Bosch. The Complete Works

Description

A bird-monster devouring sinners, naked bodies in tantric contortions, a pair of ears brandishing a sharpened blade: with just 20 paintings and nine drawings to his name, Netherlandish visionary Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) secured his place as a pillar of art history. To this day, the painter par excellence of hell and its demons continues to puzzle and enthrall scholars, artists, designers, and musicians alike. Based on the best-selling XXL edition, which saw TASCHEN commission new and exclusive photography of details and recently restored works, this large-scale monograph presents Bosch's complete oeuvre. Texts from art historian and Bosch expert Stefan Fischer dissect the many compelling elements that populate each scene, from hybrid creatures of man and beast to Bosch's pictorial use of proverbs and idioms. By tying together the elusive threads of his oeuvre into one exhaustive overview, this book reveals just what it was about Bosch and his painting that proved so immensely influential. Features: Impeccable full-page reproductions celebrating the artist's staggering compositional scope Enlarged details unveiling the most intricate and bizarre scenes as much as the unsuspected technical minutiae, from subtle brush-strokes to the grain of the canvas A fold-out spread drawn from the legendary Last Judgement A special chapter focusing on Bosch's most famous work, the mesmerizing and terrifying triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights

Stefan Fischer studied art history, history, and classical archaeology in Munster, Amsterdam, and Bonn. In 2009 he completed his doctoral thesis "Hieronymus Bosch: Malerei als Vision, Lehrbild und Kunstwerk." His specialist fields are Netherlandish painting of the 15th to the 17th centuries and museology.

Superb color reproductions and numerous details allow us to examine Bosch's fantastic imagery with a clarity seldom possible, even in a museum gallery. * The Burlington Magazine *