Review by Choice Review
In 1953 Erwin Panofsky famously judged Bosch to be "too high for his wit." Recently, Bosch has become the mountain that ambitious art historians seek to scale; an example is Hans Belting's enjoyable book Hieronymus Bosch, "Garden of Earthly Delights" (CH, Dec'02, 40-1961). The present effort, written by well-known scholar Silver (Univ. of Pennsylvania) and packed with information, is likely to remain for some time the most lavishly illustrated treatment of Bosch and his contemporaries. Some of the illustrations are bigger than the originals and some lack dimensions, but there is no doubt that the book offers a luscious visual feast. The nine chapters are arranged partly chronologically, partly thematically. One treats Bosch's drawings and another, his 16th-century progeny; prints get some mention, though the taste for Bosch in Venice is ignored, let alone the surrealists' revival of this strange artist. Indeed, his strangeness is largely ignored. Bosch is treated as a normal artist, subject to the normal contextual factors. Indexes cover only titles and names, and poor Panofsky does not rate a mention in the bibliography. Luscious and in its way thorough, this description of the historical and art-historical surround for Bosch opens its rich subject rather than closing it. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through professionals. P. Emison University of New Hampshire
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Bosch's elaborately, often monstrously detailed art remains bewitching and bewildering lo these many years since his death, in 1516. Books about this influential Netherlandish painter and his most famous work, the endlessly surprising Garden of Earthly Delights0 , are many. Why, then, produce yet another volume on Bosch? Because the more one looks at his intricate paintings, the more one sees, especially in the nearly 300 magnificent color reproductions, including breathtaking close-ups, that distinguish this top-of-the-line tome. North Renaissance art historian Silver's fresh and far-ranging commentary interweaves biography with discussions of Bosch's aesthetic breakthroughs and responses to his social, religious, and political milieu. Silver traces the inspirations for, and seeks to decode, Bosch's complex iconography, carefully analyzes Bosch's depictions of saints, and avers that Bosch's "most original innovation was his production of triptychs dedicated to moral issues." In Leap 0 (2000), naturalist Terry Tempest Williams used binoculars in the Prado to scrutinize the panoramic wildness of Garden of Earthly Delights0 ; here all is in exquisite and intimate focus, bringing Bosch to light as never before. --Donna Seaman Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Silver (art history, Univ. of Pennsylvania) uses his expertise in northern Renaissance art to synthesize recent scholarship. Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch, best known for his Garden of Earthly Delights triptych, was sincerely concerned with temptations of this life that result in terrible punishments in the next. Silver places Bosch's other triptychs and single panels firmly within 15th- and 16th-century religious art of the Low Countries. Although Bosch signed some paintings and drawings, none was dated; so Silver postulates a relative chronology while acknowledging problems with collaborative pieces, direct copies, forgeries, and works by artists inspired by Bosch's unique style. This analysis is appropriate for a scholarly audience, but the publisher has produced more of a coffee-table book. Bigger is not better when the result is way too heavy and bulky to read comfortably. Detail pages, intended for maximum visual impact, are so large and close-up that this reviewer had to keep pulling back from the book (particularly in the case of the nightmarish images of hell). Even more disturbing than some of the sinners' torments, however, is the high price. Recommended only for academic, museum, and public libraries collecting in this specialized area.-Anne Marie Lane, Univ. of Wyoming Lib., Laramie (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Library Journal Review
