The revolutionary painter was born as Jeroen van Aken but he signed many of his creations with "Bosch". This name was called after his birthplace, 's-Hertogenbosch a city in the province of Noord Braband, which is better known as "Den Bosch".
Not much is known of Hieronymus' life. The artist left no written documents behind, and the existing information has been taken from short references to him in the city's municipal archives, and in the Brotherhood of Our Lady's (local order) account books. Nothing has ever been revealed of his character or his ideas on the expression of his artwork. Bosch's birthday isn't known with certainty. Historians estimate he was born in 1450, as there's a handmade portrait drawing (perhaps a self-portrait) created shortly before he died in 1516. The drawing features the ageing Hieronymus Bosch.
Bosch created a number of triptychs. "The Garden of Earthly Delights" is one of the artist's most famous. This work, from which the authentic title hasn't survived, depicts Adam and Eve in paradise along with numerous many strange animals on the left panel, our planet's delights with many nude individuals and birds as well as exotic fruits on the middle panel, while the right panel shows hell with the various sinners' punishments.
When closing the exterior panels the observer can see the event of God creating Earth, painted in grisaille. These paintingsparticularly the Hell panelare created in a comparatively sketchy style that contrasts with the Flemish traditional way of art paintings, where the brushwork is concealed by the smooth surfacecreated by the application of several transparent glazes. In Bosch's art, and more strongly in creations including his "Temptation of St. Anthony", Bosch used his brush to draw. Not surprisingly, Hieronymus Bosch is one of history of art's most revolutionary draftsmen, having produced some of Northern Europe's first autonomous sketches.
Paintings were never dated by Bosch but he seems having signed a number of his works, although other signatures purporting to be the painter's are definitely not. Today, less than 25 artworks that can be attributed to Bosch remain.
In the late 16th century, Spain's Philip II acquired numerous of Hieronymus' paintings, including a number of most likely by Spaniards collected and commissioned works; as a result, Madrid's Prado Museum now is the owner of famous works such as "The Garden of Earthly Delights", "The Stone Operation", "The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things" and the "The Haywain Triptych".
Today, students observe the artist's vision as less mysterious, and assume that the depictions reflect his age's religious orthodox belief systems. His paintings of Heaven and Hell and sinful humanity, are today seen as consistent with those of sermons and didactic literature in late medieval times.
Most art historians believe that his paintings reveal a more profound significance than previously had been supposed, and prefer interpreting it in terms of the morality of late medieval times. In general it is assumed that Bosch's creations were made to teach spiritual truths and specific moral in the style of other Northern Renaissance artists. As stated by Dirk Bax, Hieronymus' paintings many times represent verbal metaphors' visual translations and puns drawn from folkloric as well as biblical sources.
Some art specialists see Hieronymus Bosch as a medieval proto-type surrealist, and often his work has been compared with the 20th century Spanish painter Salvador Dal.
