Terracotta Army Bosch Essay

Variety is pretty self explanatory in this piece. From the animals to the structures depicted in the inner panels, not a single subject is exactly the same. There is a large diversity of animals from common animals that we recognize to mystical animals that appears in mythology. Different facial features are shown on the face of humans to reveal expressions of lust, happiness, and temptation. This painting is a canvas version of The Terracotta Army. It shows Bosch’s seriousness and solemn respect to this piece of art.
Despite of the chaotic scene Bosch depicted, there is actually a sense of balance in this painting. A the human beings in the foreground balances the four huts in the background that is marked in bright colors. The fountain in the middle is symmetrical that result identical reflection of the sides. Also in the center panel, we can see an example of directional force. The men create a circle around the women in the pond. The direction of the men and the animals are heading towards notified that they are rotating counter-clockwise. This is a strong illustration of directional force accomplished by the unity of a group. Scale and proportion is the most significant design principle Bosch emphasized. Subjects that are
small in reality are depicted larger than humans. This symbolize the infinitesimal and inessential of human beings. Bosch created a surrealistic depiction by understating the actual proportions of the subjects. The Garden of Earthly Delights is Bosch most ambitious artwork of his career. It is also an iconic painting of the Northern Renaissance and Christianity art. Bosch had created two other triptychs during his career as an artist: The Last Judgment in 1482 and The Haywain Triptych in 1516. The Last Judgement shows similar style and format as The Garden of Earthly Delight. The painting has been thought to be the first real connection to Surrealism, an art period that occurred five centuries after the time of Bosch. Bosch artworks had led to inspirations of many other artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder's The Seven Deadly Sins of c.1558 that shows the similar hell scenarios as The Garden of Earthly Delight.
There are two allusions that I founded in this painting that are referring to previous artworks by other authors and experiences that Bosch went through. The yellow giraffe in the left panel that may have been a copy of the giraffe in Egyptian Voyage by Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli in 1440. The depiction of a burning city in the background is thought to have an allusion to Bosch’s real life experiences. This fire that is burning up the city could possibly be the great fire that destroyed the Bosch’s birth city of 's-Hertogenbosch in 1463. Similar scenes were also depicted in Bosch’s The Last Judgement, another triptych completed in 1482.
There are many connections between Dali’s Persistence of Time and Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights.
The Garden of Earthly Delights can easily be categorized into surrealistic art with its wild and insane art style. Bosch’s art style was the first real impression of surrealistic style in history despite of the five centuries of time that separated the two periods. Allusions of The Garden of Earthly Delights can be founded in Persistence of Time. For example, the white figure that is thought to be the self-portrait of Dali found similarities with the large rock where reptiles in heading towards in the left panel. There is also appearances of eyelashes (a creature on the rock) and similar features that looks like a nose and a
mouth.