Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender, Vol. 1 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Bosch, Hieronymus

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch. Detail from the central panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.

ª FRANCIS G. MAYER/CORBIS.

decipher a hidden and overarching meaning in it has

human figure. Merely identifying the panel as ‘‘Hell’’

been a conceit of the twentieth century.

does not do justice to its symbolic complexity.

The outside panels of the Garden triptych show a

The central panel is a vividly erotic but coded rendition

transparent ball of glass or a bubble encasing the world,

of the Garden. However, this garden is not the ‘‘hortus

an apparently peaceful landscape surrounded by waters

conclusus,’’ or ‘‘closed-off garden,’’ which in medieval sym-

and dominated high up by a minute figure of God the

bolism often was an iconographical attribute of the Virgin

creator done in grisaille. It illustrates the verse of the psalm

Mary, whose untouched womb, without breach or rupture,

‘‘Sicut in utrem aquas maris’’ (God gathered the waters of

was likened to it. Instead, it contains many enclosures. Its

the seas in a flask) (Dempsey 2004). The left panel

space is defined by concentric pools of water. In the farthest

depicts Paradise, in which Christ shows a newly formed

region of the canvas a small pool contains black and white

Eve to a seated Adam, who stares fixedly at her; the Fall is

female figures bathing together. Around the largest pool a

cavalcade of naked men and women gallop astride giant

implied with details of violence in the animal realm:

animals, including camels, stags, boars, cats, and birds. On

Peace among them is fissured, as the cat walks off with

the pools float various ephemeral conveyances containing

a mouse in its mouth.

amorous couples, including a black man with a pale white

On the right panel, there is a vision of hell, filled

woman, and other couples swim together or peer out of

with the familiar violent, hybrid figures. However, this

nooks and crannies of fruit. Behind it loom the ambiguous

section focuses on the discordant noise of the place, and

horned structures found in much of Bosch’s oeuvre, built of

it is the human sense of hearing that is assaulted. It shows

spikes and protuberances, architectural marvels made of

the mutilation and martyrdom of ears, bodies strung

matter that appears vegetal or carnal—because of its pink

across giant musical instruments as in a crucifixion, and

hue—rather than made of stone: Some embracing couples

naked sinners singing in a chorus with a monstrous

are walking toward them. Fruit is of paramount importance,

kapellmeister, reading music from the posterior of a

mostly in the form of the gigantic strawberry or split

E N C Y C L O P E D I A O F S E X A N D G E N D E R

181

Boswell, John

pomegranate: Figures hold them or embrace them or hide in

Dempsey, Charles. 2004. ‘‘Sicut in utrem aquas maris: Jerome

them; one holds the fruit between outstretched legs. In the

Bosch’s Prolegomenon to the Garden of Earthly Delights.’’

busy forefront another well-known sexual symbol of that

MLN 119(1): S247–S270.

time is the mussel, here containing a couple with intertwined

Dixon, Laurinda S. 1981. ‘‘Bosch’s Garden of Delights:

Remnants of a ‘Fossil’ Science.’’ Art Bulletin 63(1): 96–113.

legs. In the far right corner a group of naked figures, one

Fraenger, Wilhem. 1952.

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