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Bosch and Bruegel : from enemy painting to everyday life / Joseph Leo Koerner

This study examines the artistic relationship between Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel, tracing the evolution of genre painting from diabolical imagery. It analyses how depictions of everyday life emerged from phantasmagorical portrayals of a metaphysical enemy.

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Accession Number: 12016

Site: Vernon O Content

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Binding Type: Hard Back

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vernon_accession	12016
vernon_id	16146
vernon_slug	bosch-and-bruegel-from-enemy-painting-to-everyday-life-joseph-leo-koerner
vernon_authors	Joseph Leo Koerner
vernon_tags	Art, Arts, Religions, Painting, Graphic arts, Drawing, Christian art and symbolism, Christianity, Bible, Painting, Dutch, Figurative painting, Genre painting, Dutch, Genre painting, Peasants in art
vernon_production_date	2016
vernon_brief_description	In this visually stunning and much anticipated book, acclaimed art historian Joseph Koerner casts the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel in a completely new light, revealing how the painting of everyday life was born from what seems its polar opposite: the depiction of an enemy hell-bent on destroying us. Supreme virtuoso of the bizarre, diabolic, and outlandish, Bosch embodies the phantasmagorical force of painting, while Bruegel, through his true-to-life landscapes and frank depictions of peasants, is the artistic avatar of the familiar and ordinary. But despite their differences, the works of these two artists are closely intertwined. Bruegel began his career imitating Bosch's fantasies, and it was Bosch who launched almost the whole repertoire of later genre painting. But Bosch depicts everyday life in order to reveal it as an alluring trap set by a metaphysical enemy at war with God, whereas Bruegel shows this enemy to be nothing but a humanly fabricated mask. Attending closely to the visual cunning of these two towering masters, Koerner uncovers art history's unexplored underside: the image itself as an enemy. An absorbing study of the dark paradoxes of human creativity, Bosch and Bruegel is also a timely account of how hatred can be converted into tolerance through the agency of art. It takes readers through all the major paintings, drawings, and prints of these two unforgettable artists--including Bosch's notoriously elusive Garden of Earthly Delights, which forms the core of this historical tour de force. Elegantly written and abundantly illustrated, the book is based on Koerner's A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, a series given annually at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
vernon_object_type	Books/Document genres/Information forms/Visual and Verbal Communication
vernon_locations	On Loan
vernon_ob_status	Accessioned
vernon_isbn_issn	9780691172286
vernon_subject_people	Hieronymus Bosch (Dutch, b.1450, d.1516), Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Dutch, b.Circa 1525-1530, d.1569)
vernon_subject_objects	—
vernon_subject_classes	—
vernon_last_sync_timestamp	2026-02-24 16:57
vernon_cover_image_id	18799

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