Delightsand other paintings by Bosch hold
up an unpleasant mirror to the vices and
foolishness of humanity. Their intent is to
shock with the wickedness revealed in hu-
man and animal forms, and inspire repen-
tance on the part of the viewer.The Temp-
tation of St. Anthonyis one of his most
famous works.The Vision of Tondalysis a
painting of dreamlike images, in which the
legs of a man sprout roots and people fly
through the air.The Ship of Foolsshows a
group of people voyaging on a small boat,
wasting their lives in insignificant and fu-
tile pursuits as the ship drifts far from
their harbor.Death and the Miserdepicts
the last moments of a greedy man who
has hoarded his wealth and who now must
face death, personified as an eerie phan-
tom that is coming through his door. Mod-
ern art historians see Bosch as an impor-
tant precursor to the surrealist imagery
popular in the early twentieth century. His
paintings were popular among wealthy and
noble patrons in the Netherlands, Austria,
and Spain, and he has had many imitators
up to the present day.
SEEALSO: Brueghel family
Bosworth Field, Battle of ....................
A decisive battle fought on August 22,
1485, during the Wars of the Roses, a dy-
nastic civil war that took place in late-
fifteenth-century England. The conflict be-
tween the houses of York and Lancaster
had reached a crucial turning point with
the death of Edward IV in 1483. After this
event, the late king’s brother Richard of
Gloucester of the House of York, had his
two nephews, including the heir apparent
Edward, held in the Tower of London,
where they were likely murdered. After
their disappearance, Richard was pro-
claimed King Richard III. To contest the
throne, his rival Henry Tudor, the Earl of
Richmond, gathered an army of about five
thousand men, consisting of French mer-
cenaries and knights of Lancaster, and
marched to the vicinity of Leicester in cen-
tral England. There they faced Richard and
the Yorkists, who mustered about twelve
thousand, including a force of four thou-
sand men under the command of Sir Wil-
liam Stanley and Thomas Stanley, Henry
Tudor’s stepfather. Henry Percy, the Earl of
Northumberland, and the Stanleys held
back their forces, however, and about an
hour after the start of the battle, the Stan-
leys deserted to Tudor’s army. Richard or-
dered a desperate raid on Tudor’s com-
pany, but was killed in the skirmish. After
marrying Elizabeth of York, the victorious
Henry Tudor was crowned as Henry VII,
the first king of the Tudor dynasty.Botticelli, Sandro ..............................
(1444–1510)
A Florentine artist and a leading painter
of the Renaissance, Botticelli was born as
Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi (the name
“Botticelli” means “little barrel” in Italian,
a nickname the painter borrowed from his
elder brother). Historians know little about
his youth except that he was the son of a
tanner. He may have worked in a
goldsmith’s workshop, and may have been
an apprentice of Fra Filippo Lippi. His
early paintings were influenced by Masac-
cio, one of the most important late-
medieval painters, as well as Andrea del
Verrocchio.
In the 1470s, Botticelli opened his own
workshop, and remained a citizen of Flo-
rence for the rest of his life.
He won commissions from the church
of Santa Maria Novella (The Adoration of
the Magi), and from the Medici family for
portraits of Cosimo de’ Medici, Cosimo’s
son Giovanni, and his grandson Giuliano.Bosworth Field, Battle of