Garden

Another day of small tasks as we prepare for the kitchen project which starts on Monday. The dining room is now becoming a temporary kitchen. All rooms are primarily for storage. On the plus side, there is cricket on TV.

Hieronymous Bosch's most famous painting is the triptych Garden of Earthly Delights (c. 1505.) It seems to have been painted in service of the highly religious moralistic style of the time. The triptych, read from left to right (as they always are) shows the progression from the Garden of Eden, where God presents Eve to Adam as his wife for the purpose of procreation. The massive central pattern shows plenty of procreation going-on, as mostly naked men and women cavort and enjoy fruit - either eating it or wearing it on their heads. The right panel shows a hellish scene as sinners face imaginative forms of torture.  The message seems to be procreate by all means but don't enjoy it, or this is what will happen to you in the afterlife.

Little is known about Bosch the man or about his career. It is thought that Garden of Earthly Delights was created not for a church or religious client but for a rich aristocrat.  It is created in a closable series of panels so that the contents can be concealed from view until revealed by the proud owner.  I find it hard to imagine such an owner, entertaining his guests to a an evening's food and drink only to reveal this magnificent, detailed, dream/nightmare, in order to make a serious point to them about the perils facing those who enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. 

Perhaps Bosch had genuine, censorious intent.  Or maybe that serious pretext for the work was a convenient cover for a piece of magical entertainment for a rich client. Or it could be that another message is "God gave us this wonderful world, death will be awful so enjoy it while you can." We will never know what exactly his intentions were.