Class Year

2019

Document Type

Student Research Paper

Date of Creation

Fall 2018

Department 1

Art

Abstract

The Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch remains to this day one of the most famous artists of the Northern Renaissance. His unique style and fantastical images have made him an icon beyond his years. Bosch’s painting Death and the Miser, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., stands out as one of his most thematically complex paintings, packed with pertinent details and allusions to other works of his and those created by other artists. His inclusion of various demonic creatures, the figure of Death, and an angel and crucifix create a tense atmosphere surrounding the passing of the title miser, who faces an ultimate decision about how he will die. Bosch utilizes these various elements of composition and symbolism to create a moralizing image on the ever-present of death and proper and improper ways of dying, thereby presenting a didactic message to the viewer. Thus, Death and the Miser deserves to be remembered as one of this great Dutch artist’s most significant works.

Comments

Written for ARTH 203: Northern Renaissance Art.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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