Hieronymus Bosch

"The paintings of Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516) capture the imagination like those of no other artist in history. His fantastical scenes of grotesque creatures, devils, and monsters have prompted a wide range of interpretation, keeping his art endlessly fascinating over the centuries. Art lovers and historians have speculated about the artist himself, too, in particular about his religous - and perhaps occult - beliefs.". "This volume, published to coincide with a major exhibition in Bosch's native Netherlands, examines his art in the context of his times. Reproducing every Bosch painting and drawing in superb full color, and including Bosch's triptychs (many shown both open and closed), this book finally penetrates the mystery that has always surrounded the artist. Jos Koldeweij sketches a lively picture of urban culture in the late-medieval city of 's-Hertogenbosch, where the artist lived his entire life. Paul Vandenbroeck explores Bosch's social attitudes; the painter offered an unprecedented critique of society - money and property, sin and pleasure - from the perspective of the wealthy upper-middle class to which he himself belonged, and in so doing drew on the same themes an