Hieronymus Bosch

After having hosted three magnificent masterpieces by Giorgione, the splendid halls of Palazzo Grimani, which today number among Venice’s most evocative exposition spaces, will now display, until March 20th, three works by another great protagonist of the Renaissance art: the Flemish artist Hieronymus Bosch.

Renowned for his disturbing expressive impact and for the bizarre restlessness of his paintings, Bosch distinguished himself in his works of fantasy, created in order to illustrate the morale and religious concepts of his epoch.

The three works now on display at Palazzo Grimani, by decision of the superintendent Vittorio Sgarbi, having in the past formed part of the collection of Cardinal Domenico Grimani and left as a legacy to the Serenissima, perfectly reflect the fanciful artistic imagination of the Flemish painter, who often used medieval bestiaries as his plentiful iconographic source.

Among the constant protagonists of his own canvases are human beings condemned to Hell because of their sins. One example of this is the Vision of the World Beyond (1500-1503), composed of four panels executed in oil paint, possibly the wings of a triptych where, next to the Earthly Paradise and the Ascent to Heaven, the fall of the damned and Hell itself are surely the most evocative parts: dense and dark, suggestive anticipations of the disturbing successive development of the Triptych of Delights (Madrid, Prado) and the Temptations of Saint Anthony (Lisbon, Museu de Arte Antiga).

The two triptychs, Triptych of Saint Liberata and Triptych of the Hermits, before returning to Venice following the death of Cardinal Grimani, were in Vienna, in the imperial collections between 1838 and 1893. Successively, they were displayed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum until 1919, and finally returned to the Doge"s Palace, where they are kept today.

Information:

Ramo Grimani, Castello 4858, Venezia

The museum is open from tuesday to sunday from 9 am to 7 pm (the ticket office closes at 6:30 pm)

Closed on Monday, December 25th and January 1st.

The reservation can be made until the day before (working day).

The number of the Call Center is the following: +39 041 52 00 345