PROGRAMME NOTES THE CURIOUS WORLD OF HIERONYMUS BOSCH A note from Executive Producer and Co-Writer Phil Grabsky

At EXHIBITION ON SCREEN, we talk to galleries around the world on a daily basis – big national galleries and smaller regional or local ones. If they are planning an exhibition on an artist we think you may find of interest then we talk to them. When we heard that to mark 500 years since Bosch died the Noordbrabants Museum in the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch was organizing what was to be a once-in-a-lifetime show of Hieronymus Bosch’s work we knew we had to be involved. I went to meet Charles de Mooij, the museum’s director, and he told me that they had managed to secure loans of 17 of Bosch’s 24 surviving paintings and 19 of his 20 extant drawings. It hadn’t happened before and, frankly, won’t happen again.

Bosch is certainly an enigmatic painter but a bit of detective work can reveal an enormous amount. The first confusion is his very name: is it Hieronymus, Jheronimus or Jeroen? Van Aken or Bosch? In short, he was born Galdiano Saint John the Baptist c.1490-95, Lazaro Museo into the ‘van Aken’ family. He was both Jheronimus and Jeroen depending on whether a document was in Latin or Dutch. The standard Latin name of Hieronymus had this local variant of both Jheronimus or Jeronimus. At some point he took the name of his hometown (‘s-Hertogenbosch is also known as Den Bosch). So that’s why we know him as Hieronymus Bosch.

I don’t think the Noordbrabants Museum could possibly have guessed how popular the show was going to be. When we started arranging to film the exhibition, we were scheduled to enter after the show closed at 6pm. Then it became 8pm, then 10pm then midnight – and finally 1am! Not so great for us, of course, as it meant filming from 1am to 8am over a few nights. Though to be alone with these masterpieces – looking as if they had been painted yesterday – was, as ever, a real privilege. Director David Bickerstaff faced a challenge to tell this story - I think he has done a wonderful job. I hope you agree.

Visit: http://bit.do/eossubscribe RECOMMENDED READING AND AUDIO #EOS

Hieronymus Bosch: The Complete Works by Stefan Fischer facebook.com/exhibitiononscreen

Jheronimus Bosch - Visions of Genius twitter.com/artonscreen by Matthijs Ilsink, Jos Koldeweij

Visions of Joy - The Chapel of instagram.com/exhibitiononscreen Hieronymus Bosch (CD) by Cappella Pratensis www.exhibitiononscreenblog.com

FEATURED WORKS Grimani, VeniceGrimani, Visions of the Hereafter, di Palazzo Museo

Saint Wilgefortis Triptych, c. 1495-1505 Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice

Death and the Miser, c. 1500-10, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Gluttony and Lust, c. 1500-10, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven

The Wayfarer, c. 1500-10, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Ecce Homo, c. 1475-85, Städel Museum, Frankfurt

EXHIBITION ON SCREEN is produced and distributed by award-winning documentary film-makers Seventh Art Productions. It has been making films on art, music and history for over 35 years and in that time it has produced almost 200 titles. Most are available to download or purchase on DVD from its website:

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