What is it, in summary?: A medieval work of art, with wonderful scenery, biblical themes and the weirdest little critters you could hope! Most of what happens in the painting is probably allegorical or a visual joke (the BOSCHPROJECT page has some explanations, if you want to dive into them, but that's not what I'm expecting), but the demons and allegories of all things earthly are all by themselves endlessly fascinating. I've spent hours examining all the details just for fun.
What do you love about it?: The weirdness of it all! The art is very much to my liking stylistically, the colors are beautiful (and allegorical, probably) but all the things going on are just fodder for imagination. What Is Going On? Why are they doing THAT? What are Those? I could write or read endless stories about the characters without even caring about their possible historical meanings, but for the sake of Yuletide, my favorites are the weird mermaid-ish figures strewn among the middle part of the painting. There's one who flies, one who does acrobatics in the air (in a very sexual context), and a few who swim on top of water. Some are clearly female, some possibly male and fully armored(!). I'm fond of mermaid art, especially the non-traditional and scary ones, and I think this painting has had a strong influence on that, since I've loved it from my childhood. (We had a lot of art books home. I never became a visual artist. Go figure.)
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I want to know about the mermaids! Why and how are they flying/swimming on top of water/doing whatever it is they're doing? I love mermaid art, both conventional and unconventional, so a modernization of them would be a welcome gift too!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): well. Nudity and weird alluded sexual acts are a given, so is goreless violence, there is a possibly rape-y scene in the painting, and the Garden and the Hell parts are a treasure-trove of This Better Not Awaken Anything In Me -kinks, but none of it is extremely realistic or straightforward. We're in the Middle Ages after all. Er, tits and willies abound?
Jheronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights
Media: Painting
Approx length: n/a
Where to find it: The best digitalization is probably at BOSCHPROJECT, here: http://boschproject.org/view.html?pointer=0.518,0.003&i=00MCPVIS
What is it, in summary?: A medieval work of art, with wonderful scenery, biblical themes and the weirdest little critters you could hope! Most of what happens in the painting is probably allegorical or a visual joke (the BOSCHPROJECT page has some explanations, if you want to dive into them, but that's not what I'm expecting), but the demons and allegories of all things earthly are all by themselves endlessly fascinating. I've spent hours examining all the details just for fun.
What do you love about it?: The weirdness of it all! The art is very much to my liking stylistically, the colors are beautiful (and allegorical, probably) but all the things going on are just fodder for imagination. What Is Going On? Why are they doing THAT? What are Those? I could write or read endless stories about the characters without even caring about their possible historical meanings, but for the sake of Yuletide, my favorites are the weird mermaid-ish figures strewn among the middle part of the painting. There's one who flies, one who does acrobatics in the air (in a very sexual context), and a few who swim on top of water. Some are clearly female, some possibly male and fully armored(!). I'm fond of mermaid art, especially the non-traditional and scary ones, and I think this painting has had a strong influence on that, since I've loved it from my childhood. (We had a lot of art books home. I never became a visual artist. Go figure.)
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: I want to know about the mermaids! Why and how are they flying/swimming on top of water/doing whatever it is they're doing? I love mermaid art, both conventional and unconventional, so a modernization of them would be a welcome gift too!
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: http://boschproject.org/view.html?pointer=0.423,0.000&r=0.3280,0.0891,0.2344,0.1251&i=00MCPVIS shows many of the merpersons doing merperson-y things, http://boschproject.org/view.html?pointer=0.466,0.004&r=0.2748,0.0011,0.2131,0.1138&i=00MCPVIS shows the fish-flyer one, and http://boschproject.org/view.html?pointer=0.514,0.004&r=0.6445,0.1881,0.1455,0.0777&i=00MCPVIS has the acrobatic one. But do take a peek at the whole before engaging! You can scroll closer and farther on the image, but be warned, it's a time trap!
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): well. Nudity and weird alluded sexual acts are a given, so is goreless violence, there is a possibly rape-y scene in the painting, and the Garden and the Hell parts are a treasure-trove of This Better Not Awaken Anything In Me -kinks, but none of it is extremely realistic or straightforward. We're in the Middle Ages after all. Er, tits and willies abound?