A History of European Art

Lecture 25: Netherlandish Art in the 16

th Century

persons in the city was associated with a religious order. Bosch’s art has a

unity and intensity of subject and style that supports that presumption.

The center panel shows the Garden of Earthly Delights. A ¿ sh was a phallic

symbol; one lies on the ground at bottom center, while another À ies through

the air at top left. The fruits are principally cherries and berries, especially

strawberries. A 16th-century Spanish commentator on this painting pointed

out that strawberries, once eaten, leave little taste behind in the mouth—an

allusion to the nature of physical pleasure. Note the giant strawberry at the

bottom of the panel, on which a man gnaws. In the water at left, a couple

À oats in a shell-like vessel, reaching out to grasp the bunch of blackberries,

which is surrounded by ¿ gures in the water already picking at it.

A group of riders circles the small pool in the center. They ride all sorts

of animals—horses, camels, a mythical grif¿ n (half eagle, half lion), and

a unicorn, while in front, a bear, an ox, and a pig serve as mounts. This

bestiary is full of sexual symbolism; indeed, the very act of riding was a

colloquial synonym for sex. We see numerous egg and globular shapes and

some transparent bubbles or domes. The couple at the left edge near the

bottom is enclosed in a bubble that looks as if it has emerged from a plant,

which in turn, issues from an egg-like shape. Through a hole in that egg, we

see a man’s face.

A transparent tube extends outward, and a mouse or rat is entering it. An

intriguing motif is birds feeding humans. Right of center is a red conical tree

on which a bird perches, berry in beak above the upturned heads of humans.

In the top center is a blue sphere, reminiscent of the Sphere of Creation on

the outside of the triptych. It is also a fountain, a variant of the one in Eden,

but it serves as a swimming platform. Note the naïve, un-self-conscious

indulgence in carnal pleasure that most of the persons in the garden exhibit.

However, their facial expressions are often neutral, rather than smiling or

leering. An owl is prominent in this scene, as in Eden. Here, this symbol of

death is above two dancing nudes and below half a dozen ¿ gures in a small

grove that seems suggestive of Eden and innocence.

The right wing represents Hell. In the lower left corner is gambling, vice,

and violence. At lower right, a sow in the veil of a mother superior tries to