Follower of Hieronymus Bosch (’S-Hertogenbosch 1450-1516)

Follower of Hieronymus Bosch (’s-Hertogenbosch 1450-1516)

The Harrowing of Hell c. 1500 oil on panel 43.6 x 58.3 cm. (17 ¼ x 23 in.)

Provenance: J. L. Laverge, Rotterdam; Private Collection, Great Britain.

Exhibited: Hambourg, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Verkehrte Welt Das Jahrhundert von Hieronymus Bosch, 4 June – 11 September 2016, no. 16.

Literature: M. Philipp, in Verkehrte Welt Das Jahrhundert von Hieronymus Bosch, exh. cat., Munich 2016, p. 116, cat. no. 16, reproduced in colour p. 117.

26 Bury Street, St. James's, SW1Y 6AL, London UK | 38 East 70th Street, NY 10021, New York USA | Paseo de Eduardo Dato, 13, 28010 Madrid Spain www.colnaghi.com

Belonging to a group of paintings that tell the story of Christ in limbo, an episode taken from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, this painting was executed by a follower of Hieronymus Bosch. Very similar to three other versions, belonging respectively to the Royal Collection at Hampton Court Palace (inv. no. 941), the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (fig. 1. inv. no. 2715), and the Museum of Art in Indianapolis (fig. 2. inv. no. 63.10), this work was very probably also executed after one of the master's works that has since disappeared, which could well be the prototype for this series of copies. Dendrochronological analysis dates the present panel to circa 1498, indicating that it could have been used at the end of the first decade of the 16th century. While the sources on Bosch mention at least four similar subjects, two of which belonged to Philip II of Spain,1 none of them have reached us. Luckily, the taste for Bosch's universe lasted throughout the 16th century, and among the artists who worked in Bosch’s tradition in order to feed this demand were Pieter Huys (active 1545 – 1584) and Jan Mandijn (Haarlem c. 1500 – c. 1560 Antwerp).

Popular during medieval times and disappearing with the arrival of mannerism, this subject evokes an underground world haunted by demons, where the righteous dead roam without the grace of God, as well as infants who have died before being baptised. The painting teems with macabre and comical scenes: nevertheless, Christ appears, pushing a heavy bronze door as written in the apocryphal text, brandishing the banner of the Resurrection. This iconography immediately draws the viewer into an eccentric, fantastical and barbaric world. Through the painting's multitude of details and vitality, this emblematic image of Bosch's genius demonstrates that the conventions of the Middle Ages are still as brilliant and fresh today.

1 L. Campbell, The Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. The Early Flemish Pictures, Cambridge 1985, p. 11, cat. no. 7.

26 Bury Street, St. James's, SW1Y 6AL, London UK | 38 East 70th Street, NY 10021, New York USA | Paseo de Eduardo Dato, 13, 28010 Madrid Spain www.colnaghi.com

Fig. 1. Follower of Bosch, Christ in Limbo, 55 × 74 cm. Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Fig. 2. Follower of Bosch, Christ in Limbo, 58.1 × 72.1 cm. Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art.

26 Bury Street, St. James's, SW1Y 6AL, London UK | 38 East 70th Street, NY 10021, New York USA | Paseo de Eduardo Dato, 13, 28010 Madrid Spain www.colnaghi.com

A note on Hieronymus Bosch

Few details have survived concerning the career of Hieronymus van Aeken, better known as Bosch, and therefore we are unable to firmly establish the biography of this great 15th century Flemish master. He acquired the nickname Bosch from the Brabant name of his hometown, 's- Hertogenbosch. The accounting archives of the Illustre Lieve Vrouwe Broederschap reveal that he painted the decorations in St. John’s Cathedral there, including vast paintings of the Old Testament such as Solomon Honouring his Mother Bathsheba and Mordecai and Esther.

During the painter’s lifetime, the Netherlands were under Hapsburg control and his works were extremely popular in Spain. King Philip II greatly appreciated the artist’s work and acquired The Last Judgement from him as well as several other works from private collections. The paintings executed by Bosch form a body of work of great importance for the history of art. This collection introduces a new vocabulary populated with hybrid creatures inspired by the medieval bestiary and monsters, thus bringing to life a certain Manichaean vision of Hell and Paradise, as well as the consequences of sin and earthly suffering. These new scenes teeming with details were generally contained within a large format and expressed a certain moralising spirit in a period announcing the religious turmoil of the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. It is this vision that we find in the great triptych, The Garden of Delights, painted c. 1500-1505 at the end of Bosch’s career. It portrays paradise and the Garden of Eden, Hell and life on earth, teeming with characters engaged in activities whose meaning is still generally mysterious. The Haywain, whose iconography is rooted in the Flemish proverbial, provides a metaphor for sin and the ephemeral nature of human life; to this must also be added the great triptych of the Temptations of St Anthony in Lisbon. More than an allegory, the work of Bosch bears witness to a keen analysis of man and his activities through small paintings. Bosch’s universe was continued by his followers such as Jan Mandijn (Haarlem 1502-1560) and Pieter Huys (Antwerp 1519-1584), who reinterpreted the painter’s vocabulary in their own style. Some subjects, such as The parable of the blind, also entered the repertoire of Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Brueghel 1525 – Brussels 1569), whose work has several points in common with Bosch’s paintings in that both artists conveyed a satirical view of the society of their day.

26 Bury Street, St. James's, SW1Y 6AL, London UK | 38 East 70th Street, NY 10021, New York USA | Paseo de Eduardo Dato, 13, 28010 Madrid Spain www.colnaghi.com