De Bruyn 2023c
“Op verkenning in de Tuin der Lusten 10 – De eerste wereld (met vraagtekens)” (Eric De Bruyn) 2023
[in: Bossche Kringen, vol. 10, nr. 3 (July 2023), pp. 22-25]
This last episode of a series of ten articles deals with the overall meaning of the central panel of Bosch’s Garden of Delights triptych. Thematically, this central panel probably represents the first period of man’s history, the period between Adam/Eve and the Flood, which according to medieval sources was ruled by Unchastity (Luxuria). In other words: the Sicut erat in diebus Noe theme, as was suggested by Gombrich in 1969. Bosch’s design of this theme was probably inspired by the false love paradise motif, although what we see does not necessarily have to be a Venusberg or Graal, as was suggested by Vandenbroeck (in 1990 and later). The central panel would thus show how man wrongly interpreted (and still interprets) God’s command to procreate (left panel) as a safe-conduct to debauchery, which unavoidably leads to punishment in Hell (right panel). For now, all this does not rise above the level of a hypothesis.
[explicit October 8, 2023]
