Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) Dutch, "Garden of Earthly Delights" Framed Lithograph. Arguably one of the most famous pieces of art in history and definitely the artist's most well-known work, the Garden of Earthly Delights looks like Salvador Dali and Michelangelo had a baby that was terminally insane, and has had a profound impact on many artists and art movements since its appearance between 1490 and 1510. 

Overall Size: 24 1/2 x 41 1/2 in. 

Sight Size: 20 1/2 x 36 1/2 in. 

Hieronymus Bosch was born Jheronimus van Aken in roughly 1450 in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Duchy of Brabant, in the Burgundian Netherlands. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school, and his work, generally oil on oak wood, mainly contains fantastic illustrations of religious concepts and narratives, with his macabre and nightmarish depictions of hell some of the most widely collected and referenced in history. Little is known of Bosch’s life, though there are some records. His grandfather Jan van Aken (died 1454) was a painter and is first mentioned in the records in 1430. Jan had five sons, four of whom were also painters. Bosch’s father, Anthonius van Aken (died c. 1478), acted as artistic adviser to the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady, and it is generally assumed that either Bosch’s father or one of his uncles taught the artist to paint, but none of their works survive to compare. Bosch left behind no letters or diaries, and what has been identified has been taken from brief references to him in the municipal records of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and in the account books of the Brotherhood. Nothing is known of his personality or his thoughts on the meaning of his art aside from what can be inferred from his own creations. Sometime between 1479 and 1481 Bosch married Aleid Goyaerts van den Meervenne, who was a few years his senior. The couple moved to the nearby town of Oirschot, where Aleid Goyaerts van den Meervenne had inherited a house and land from her wealthy family. Bosch’s date of birth has not been determined with certainty, and is estimated at c. 1450 on the basis of a hand-drawn portrait (which may be a self-portrait) made shortly before his death on August 9th, 1516 showing the artist at an advanced age, probably in his late sixties. He spent most of it in the town of his birth, and his pessimistic fantastical style cast a wide influence on northern art of the 16th Century, with Pieter Bruegel the Elder being his best-known follower. His most acclaimed works consist of triptych altarpieces, and in the late 16th Century Philip II of Spain acquired many of Bosch’s paintings, seeing them as “religious perfections.” As a result the Prado Museum in Madrid now owns the Adoration of the Magi, The Garden of Earthly Delights, the tabletop painting of The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things and The Haywain Triptych. Today, Bosch is seen as a highly individualistic painter with deep insight into humanity’s desires and deepest fears. In modern times attribution has been especially difficult, and today at least twenty-five paintings are confidently given to his hand along with eight drawings. About another half-dozen paintings are reasonably attributed to his workshop, but much controversy continues to revolve around the methods, mediums, and materials he used, the periods of his life in which he used them, and how involved he was in his creations towards the end of his life.