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Hieronymus Bosch
Visions and Nightmares
Series: Renaissance Lives
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Check link for latest rating. ( 222 ratings, 26 reviews)
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Hieronymus Bosch
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This book is ideal for readers interested in art history, particularly those fascinated by Renaissance painters and early Netherlandish art. It suits students, casual art enthusiasts, and anyone seeking an insightful yet accessible biography of Hieronymus Bosch.
A fresh, insightful analysis of Hieronymus Bosch, painter of the eerie and infernal.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
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Description
An accessible biography of the celebrated early Netherlandish painter, now in paperback.
In his lifetime, the early Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch was famous for his phantasmagoric images, and today his name is synonymous with the infernal. The creator of expansive tableaus of fantastic and hellish scenes—where any devil not dancing is too busy eating human souls—he has been as equally misunderstood by history as his paintings have. In Hieronymus Bosch, Nils Büttner draws on a wealth of historical documents—not to mention Bosch's paintings—to offer a fresh and insightful look at one of history's most peculiar artists on the five-hundredth anniversary of his death.
Bosch's paintings have elicited a number of responses over the centuries. Some have tried to explain them as alchemical symbolism, others as coded messages of a secret cult, and still others have tried to psychoanalyse them. Some have placed Bosch among the Adamites, others among the Cathars, and others among the Brethren of the Free Spirit, seeing in his paintings an occult life of free love, strange rituals, mysterious drugs, and witchcraft. As Büttner shows, Bosch was—if anything—a hardworking painter, commissioned by aristocrats and courtesans, as all painters of his time were. Analysing his life and paintings against the backdrop of contemporary Dutch culture and society, Büttner offers one of the clearest biographical sketches to date alongside beautiful reproductions of some of Bosch's most important work. The result is a smart but accessible introduction to a unique artist whose work transcends genre.
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
New York Review of Books praises it as "an attractive little hardbound book with good colour illustrations providing an inviting, judicious overview of Bosch in his historical environment." Choice describes it as "a handy, nearly ideal volume" balancing detailed historical context without overwhelming the reader, presenting Bosch as "an early moral satirist" rather than a secretive heretic. The book is noted for its detailed analysis of Bosch's style and process and is regarded as a strong introduction within the Renaissance Lives series.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781789147926
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 13 November 2023
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Reaktion Books
Illustration: 63 illustrations, 60 in colour
Contributors:
- Translated by Anthony Mathews
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 138.0mm
Height: 216.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 208
About the Author
Nils Büttner is Professor of Art History at the State Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart. His previous publications include Landscape Painting: A History (2006), The History of Gardens in Painting (2008) and Otto Dix and New Objectivity (2013).
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