Review by Choice Review
In this amply illustrated but unindexed treatment, Falkenburg (NYU Abu Dhabi; Leiden Univ., the Netherlands) mines bestiaries and medieval dream theory for helpful resemblances to the oddities everyone loves to savor in Bosch's painting. Typological and "(para-)typological" thought is said to underlie much of the imagery, which is revealed to be thoroughly religious. In this volume, the altarpiece is taken to be a variation on a Last Judgment in which God, present at the Creation, looks out at the viewer and thereby incites the viewer to "develop his own 'judgmental eye.''' Here, the sexual involvement of humans and devils reflects contemporary anxieties about witches, and in general the work adheres to the intellectual world of the Burgundian court. This painting was commissioned by Engelbert II of Nassau for his young nephew Henry (III) to educate him (a tweaking of previous suggestions), and should be considered a cultural property akin to the Roman de la Rose, likewise complicated in its readings. Anyone wanting a more economical approach should start with Hans Belting's Hieronymous Bosch: Garden of Earthly Delights (CH, Dec'02, 40-1961), but advanced students also will want to ponder the possibility that this work is quite religious and traditional in conception and function. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. P. Emison University of New Hampshire
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
The latest of many attempts to understand The Garden of Earthly Delights, Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch's (c.1450-1516) most famous work, this dense reading of the fantastical painting attempts to view it as Bosch's noble Burgundian patrons might have seen it. The method is speculative; Falkenburg (dean, humanities & arts, New York Univ., Abu Dhabi; The Fruit of Devotion: Mysticism and the Imagery of Love in Flemish Paintings of the Virgin and Child, 1450-1550) acknowledges this weakness but also adds that no reading of this supremely complex work can be definitive. His essential argument is that the painting was created for a wealthy audience as a contemplative mirror to reflect how humanity's divine origins are perverted by evil, although there is enough complexity in Bosch's depiction of paradise to allow for other, contradictory interpretations. VERDICT Falkenburg's arguments are wide-ranging and demand substantial knowledge of the period and its religious and philosophical thought. While its points are not always felicitously phrased, the book's myriad detail illustrations are helpful. Essential for advanced art history collections.-Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of -Chicago Libs. (c) Copyright 2012. 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 Library Journal Review
