About Hieronymus Bosch

Artist between Middle Ages and Renaissance, creator of demons, devils and other fantastic creatures, painter of enigmatic, moralistic panels that both fascinate and frighten. The number of works that can be attributed to Hieronymus Bosch with certainty is small, but nearly anyone can mention one of his works: the Garden of Earthly Delights, the Haywain, or the Ship of Fools.

The logo of antiquarian bookshop Hieronymus Bosch is based on the painting Cutting the Stone in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. This painting from c. 1490 depicts a doctor who tries to cure a patient from folly by cutting it from his skull.

In the dialect of Brabant, having 'keien' (in English 'stones' or 'bulbs') in your head still means that you are crazy. Traditionally folly was depicted as a stone, but Hieronymus Bosch has exchanged this motif with flowers. In the later middle ages, the word 'kei' could be used for a flower as well.

So the doctor tries to remove folly from the head of his patient, but the big funnel he is wearing on his head shows clearly that something must be wrong with himself as well.

To the right, a woman (a nun?) is standing behind a high table. A voluminous book is balancing on her head, but this doesn’t seem to affect her at all. She is resting her chin on her hand, as she is interestedly observing the scene.

Sources

A.M. Koldeweij, De 'Keisnijding' van Hieronymus Bosch. Clavis kleine kunsthistorische monografieën, dl. 11, Zutphen 1991.

All titles about Hieronymus Bosch

Of course Antiquarian bookshop Hieronymus Bosch also offers an extensive collection titles on this artist from ’s-Hertogenbosch. Click here for a complete overview of the current collection.