|
|
 |
Between Heaven And Hell
|
|
|
|
|
The Triumph of the Saint
|
|
|
|
In his pictures of the saints, Bosch seldom depicted
those miraculous exploits and spectacular martyrdoms which
so fascinated the later Middle Ages. Except for the early
»Crucifixion of St Julia«, he showed the more
passive virtues of the contemplative life: no soldier
saints, no tender virgins frantically defending their
chastity, but hermits meditating quietly in a landscape.
Three variations of this theme appear in the sadly damaged
triptych ofthe» HermitSaints« in Venice, painted towards the
middle of his career. In the centre St Jerome
fastens his gaze on a crucifix, secure against the evil
world symbolized by the remains of a pagan temple scattered
around him on the ground and by two monstrous animals
engaged in a death struggle below. On the left, St Anthony
the Hermit resists the amorous advances of the Devil-Queen,
an episode to which we shall return. Snugly ensconced in a
cave chapel on the right wing, St Giles prays before an
altar, the arrow piercing his breast commemorating the time
when he was shot accidentally by a passing hunter.
All three saints reflect the monastic ideal as set forth,
for example, in the limitation of Christ«: a life spent in
mortification of the flesh and in continuous prayer and
meditation. »How strict and self-denying was the life of the
holy Fathers in the desert!« exclaims Thomas a Kempis, »How
long and grievous the temptations they endured! How often
they were assaulted by the Devil! How frequent and fervent
their prayers to God! ... How great their zeal and ardour
for spiritual progress! How valiant the battles they fought
to overcome their vices!«
In the »St Jerome at Prayer«, Bosch gave an
even more telling image of this ideal. Jerome has cast
himself down, a crucifix cradled in his arms; his splendid
red cardinal's robe lies abandoned on the ground. Absent are
the dramatic gestures-the breast-beating and the eyes raised
adoringly to the Cross - with which other artists
represented the penitent saint, but in this still, intent
figure, Bosch has nonetheless poignantly expressed Jerome's
spiritual anguish. The peaceful background panorama contains
no hint of evil, but the swampy grotto in which the saint
lies is rank with corruption and decay. In his
autobiography, Jerome describes how his meditations in the
wilderness were interrupted by visions of beautiful
courtesans. These lustful thoughts are undoubtedly
symbolized by the large decomposing fruits near the saint's
cave, reminiscent of the flora in the «Garden of Earthly
Delights«. Only by surrendering completely to the will of
God could Jerome subdue his rebellious flesh.
In another picture (Madrid, Museo Lazaro-Galdiano), Bosch
shows St John the Baptist seated in a humid summer landscape. The composition may well have been
influenced by a painting done some years earlier by Geertgen
tot Sint Jans. Geertgen represented the thoughtful prophet
staring abstractedly into space, rubbing one foot against
the other, but Bosch shows him pointing purposefully towards
the Lamb of God crouching at lower right. This gesture
traditionally identifies John as the forerunner of Christ,
the »precursor Christi«. In this instance however, it also
indicates a spiritual alternative to the life of the flesh
symbolized in the great pulpy fruits hanging near him on
gracefully curving stems, and in the equally ominous forms
rising in the background.
|
|
|
|

Triptych of the Crucifixion of St Julia Oil on panel, 104 x 119 cm Palazzo Ducale, Venice
|
|
 Hermit Saints Triptych
St Anthony, St Jerome, St Giles
c. 1505
Oil on panel, 86 x 60 cm
Palazzo Ducale, Venice |
|

Hermit Saints Triptych. St Jerome (central panel) c. 1505 Oil on panel, 86 x 60 cm Palazzo Ducale, Venice
|
|
 Temptation of St Anthony
Pen and bistre, 257 x 175 mm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin |
|
 Studies
for the "Tempation of St Anthony"
Pen and bistre, 205 x 263 mm
Musee du Louvre, Paris |
|

St Jerome in Prayer c. 1505 Oil on panel, 80,1 x 60,6 cm Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent
|
|
Jerome was born about AD 342 and died in
Bethlehem in AD 420. He studied philosophy at Rome and became one of
the most learned of the Latin Fathers of the Church, a great
biblical scholar who revised the Latin version of the New Testament
and worked over or translated the whole Bible, known since the 13th
century as the Vulgate. He was ordained a priest but did not
exercise his priestly office. In 374 he retired to the desert near
Antioch and spent some years among the hermits. While there he was
visited by temptations and lustful visions of the flesh. Most
representations of St Jerome show him in a state of penitence in the
desert. Bosch's painting depicts Jerome as a reclining praying
figure, having cast aside his cardinal's robe and hat. which are
often shown as indications of both his service to the Church and his
rejection of the priestly office. Around him are familiar symbols of
the bodily temptations: broken fruit, an evil smelling swamp,
indicating decay and corruption, and a lurking owl. There is also a
small dog-like creature at the bottom left, which probably
represents a lion, Jerome's symbol.
|
|

St John the Baptist in the Wilderness (Meditation)
Oil on panel, 48 x 40 cm
Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madrid
|
|
St John the Baptist was the son of Elizabeth, cousin of Mary,
the mother of Christ. Known as precursor Christi, he
prophesied the coming of Christ and is often associated pictorially
in his youth with Christ. It was he who later baptized Christ. Also
traditionally associated with the Lamb of God, the symbol of the
Redeemer, in Bosch's painting St John is depicted in the wilderness
lying in meditation and pointing to the Lamb, quietly seated in the
bottom right. Again the traditional, endemic temptations of the
flesh are indicated by the exotic luscious fruit, symbols of carnal
pleasure, growing close to the Saint. The presence of monsters in
Bosch's paintings is not always explicit, often seen only in that
form of metamorphosis characteristic of modern Surrealism. One
example is the elongated rock on which St John is leaning, which
transforms at its left into a rat-like head, the rat being another
symbol for sex as well as for general filth and lies against the
Church.
|
|
 |