Will the Real Hieronymus Bosch Please Stand Up?
Copyright © 2000 by Damon Knight
In the center panel of the Vienna Last Judgment (above) we see a sort of speculum with a vaporous border, through which Christ, Mary and Joseph, and twelve apostles, six on either side, look down on the burning landscape of Purgatory. These charming little personages in their Easter-egg-colored robes are like crèche figurines. Bosch makes a comedy of the two angels in the upper left, one of whom is blatting too vigorously to suit the other.Bosch, Last Judgment. Vienna, Akademie der bildenden Künste. We know this is Purgatory, not Hell, because halfway up the left margin of the painting, almost too small to be noticed, a sinner is being led off to heaven by an angel, while demons stalk them with crossbows. On the other side of the painting, demon blacksmiths are shoeing sinners.
Bosch, Last Judgment (details). The landscape of Purgatory, like that of Hell, consists of endless ruined walls of brown basalt separated by narrow channels. In both places, the buildings are forever catching fire, burning down and having to be rebuilt, and that's why there are so many demons running around with ladders. At the moment, the small area that we see in the foreground is not in flames, but its turn will come, and meanwhile it is illuminated by conflagrations closer to us.Bosch, Last Judgment (detail). In the left foreground a man with a bloated belly is forced to swallow a stream of liquid from a cask. The cask, meanwhile, is being refilled by another stream of liquid from the arse of a naked man in a window. Nearby, a demon fries a disjointed sinner over a fire, apparently intending to make a platter of man and eggs.Bosch, Last Judgment (detail).
Bosch, Last Judgment (detail).
