Hieronymus Bosch. Temptation of St. Anthony. Central panel. 1500. Oil on panel. Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon, Portugal.
Bosch was a brilliant and highly original Flemish painter of the late Middle Ages. His work is characterized by unusual, fantastic, iconography--and embodies a complex and wholly individual style. Bosch was regarded as a highly imaginative “creator of devils” and a powerful inventor of seeming nonsense full of satirical meaning--which in and of itself is quite a feat. Closer scrutiny also reveals a demonstrated insight into the depths of the human mind and spirit. Hieronymous Bosch is most definitely one of my greatest mentors--and a powerful source of inspiration for me, as a painter. When examining such creations as his--and of other medieval painters, like Ambrogio Lorenzetti, I cannot help but wonder what all the fuss is about with regard to the characters in James Cameron's film, Avatar. Frankly--they cannot hold a torch to these guys!
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