Ilsink 2019b
“De onvromen lopen rond” (Matthijs Ilsink) 2019
[in: Matthijs Ilsink, Bram de Klerck, and Annemarieke Willemsen (eds.), Het einde van de middeleeuwen – Vijftig kunstwerken uit de tijd van Bosch en Erasmus. Nijmeegse Kunsthistorische Studies – XXV, Uitgeverij Vantilt, Nijmegen, 2019, pp. 108-115]
The central panel of the Garden of Delights has already inspired many, often contradictory interpretations, but the context for a correct interpretation is offered by Bosch himself, via the wings. In the exterior panels and in the left interior panel we see the divine origin of creation, the right interior panel shows the infernal punishment for those who deny the duty to honour God. The structure of the central panel is dominated by round forms, circles and balls, which is extremely conspicuous in the central carousel of riders encircling a round pond with naked women. The author relates this to Psalm 11 (12), 9 which reads in the Vulgate in circuitu impii ambulant (the impious run around in a circle). This points out that in the central panel of the Garden Bosch painted sinful man and that the triptych functioned as an instrument of conversion. The viewer has to realise that it is not too late to repent and to stop sinning.
[explicit November 26, 2023]
