Date of Submission
Spring 2011
Academic Program
Art History
Advisor
Jean French
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This essay examines the evolution of Hieronymus Bosch's musical instruments from silent props to sentient characters. It follows the course of the instruments' progression, beginning with the influence of preceding artists and Bosch's early work, and ends with the climactic "Hell" panel of "the Garden of Earthly Delights" in which the instruments have gained complete independence and dominate the human souls. The theories of Aristotle, Tinctoris, Machaut, Dante and the Devotio Moderna are analyzed for their highly influential effects on the instruments' liberation, particularly concerning their belief in the musical body and soul.
Distribution Options
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Young, Liza, "The Rise of the Sentient Musical Instrument: A Study of Hieronymus Bosch's Musical Instruments and their Dissonant Revolution" (2011). Senior Projects Spring 2011. 229.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2011/229
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.