On 1 December 2018, Het Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch will open the exhibition From Bosch's Stable. Hieronymus Bosch and The Adoration of the Magi. Just two years after the successful exhibition Hieronymus Bosch - Visions of a Genius in the spring of 2016, the museum is once again bringing work by the world-famous Den Bosch master himself back to the city where he lived, worked and then died in 1516. The loan is exceptional: throughout the world, only about 25 original paintings by Bosch remain.
Image: The Adoration of the Magi, Hieronymus Bosch, c.1475
On 1 December 2018, Het Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch will open the exhibition From Bosch's Stable. Hieronymus Bosch and The Adoration of the Magi. Just two years after the successful exhibition Hieronymus Bosch - Visions of a Genius in the spring of 2016, the museum is once again bringing work by the world-famous Den Bosch master himself back to the city where he lived, worked and then died in 1516. The loan is exceptional: throughout the world, only about 25 original paintings by Bosch remain.
"Following the phenomenal success of the Bosch exhibition in 2016, we made the commitment to continue researching Bosch, and to regularly bring the art of Hieronymus Bosch back to his home town, Den Bosch. There is still so much to be discovered about Bosch and his workshop. This exhibition - From Bosch's Stable - is the first in a series of exhibitions that will demonstrate the master's influence on both his pupils and followers through autograph pieces." - Charles de Mooij, Director, Het Noordbrabants Museum
The Adoration of the Magi
The painting due to arrive in Den Bosch in December is The Adoration of the Magi on loan from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It depicts the three magi paying homage to the Christ Child, held in the lap of the Virgin Mary. Although this early piece by Hieronymus Bosch is relatively classical in its composition, it does contain a number of typically Boschian elements, such as the face of Christ, the small figures in the background and an owl - a bird that repeatedly features in paintings by the artist.
The Adoration of the Magi, Hieronymus Bosch, c.1475
Epiphany
The theme of the exhibition is Epiphany - or Three Kings' Day - a religious festival that was extremely popular in visual arts in the latter Middle Ages. The period produced a great number of depictions of the festival; full of exotic figures in lavish costumes and with luxuriant attributes. Hieronymus Bosch also portrayed the theme numerous times. Two of those autograph paintings have been preserved: one held in the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the other at the Museo del Prado (Madrid). Both paintings were copied and imitated early on, proving their desirability. The exhibition From Bosch's Stable. Hieronymus Bosch and The Adoration of the Magi has a strong focus on this imitation of Bosch.
From Bosch's Stable
The early appreciation for his work in Bosch's own era is remarkable: with more than 30 surviving early copies, Bosch's interpretation is one of the most popular compositions from the late medieval Netherlands. The Bosch Research and Conservation Project has been researching the work and atelier of Bosch since 2010 and has examined a number of these copies closely. The findings have led to some surprising new insights.
In addition to the autograph piece from New York, the exhibition will show artworks by Bosch followers from The National Trust collections in England (Petworth House and Upton House). Paintings and prints by contemporaries such as Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen, Martin Schongauer and Lucas van Leyden will also be on display, immersing visitors in the Epiphany narrative.
Bosch at Het Noordbrabants Museum
Alongside Vincent van Gogh and Jan Sluijters, Bosch represents one of the museum's key artists. Whilst the museum does not own any original Bosch works, the master and his artistic heritage are regular topics. Paintings of Bosch followers feature in the museum's permanent display of its own collection, and exhibitions on modern-day artists inspired by the genius of Bosch are regularly scheduled in the programme. The exhibition From Bosch's Stable is the first in a series of small and intimate exhibitions that the museum will be producing over the coming years on Hieronymus Bosch and his influence.
Research on Bosch
Launched in 2010, the Bosch Research and Conservation Project (BRCP) is the most extensive research project on Hieronymus Bosch to date. The current research, BRCP II, is a continuation of this internationally renowned project and centres around Bosch's workshop and his followers. This project is once again led by Prof. Dr. A.M. Koldeweij and Dr. M. Ilsink of the Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, both of whom are guest curators of the exhibition.
About the artist
Hieronymus Bosch (’s-Hertogenbosch ca. 1450-1516) is the most important late medieval Netherlandish painter. Bosch portrayed the major themes of his era: temptation, sin and final reckoning. The exhibition Hieronymus Bosch - Visions of a genius held at Het Noordbrabants Museum in 2016 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death was described by British newspaper, The Guardian as ‘one of the most important exhibitions of the century’ and attracted over 421,700 visitors from 81 countries.
The exhibition "From Bosch's Stable"
Het Noordbrabants Museum, Den Bosch, Netherlands
1 December 2018 - 10 March 2019
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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