"The Garden of Earthly Delights" - another guest blog entry

In December, Leann’s brother, Dan, introduced me to the Michael Connelly mystery series featuring detective Harry Bosch. Connelly had written 16 books in the series and I have now read 14. In April/May I had the opportunity to meet the author at a book signing in Tampa where he now lives and did a guest blog post.

One of the things Connelly does is fully develop his characters. In the 14 books I’ve read so far, I’ve learned quite a bit about Harry Bosch. An interesting element of the character is that he is named after the 15th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. The painter and his works are frequently mentioned in each book and often are key clues in the case.

The artist Bosch is considered one of the Masters and his work and their meanings have been critiqued, discussed and interpreted over the years. There are only 25 of his works surviving today and five of them are displayed the El Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. One of the most famous is:

“The Garden of Earthly Delights”.

The open triptych shows three scenes. The left panel is dedicated to Paradise, with the creation of Eve and the fountain of life, while the right panel shows hell. The central panel gives its name to the entire piece, representing a garden of life’s delights or pleasures. Between paradise and hell, these delights are nothing more than allusions to sin, showing humankind dedicated to diverse worldly pleasures. There are clear and strongly erotic representations of lust, along with others, whose meanings are more enigmatic. The fleeting beauty of flowers and the sweetness of fruit transmit a message of fragility and the ephemeral character of happiness and enjoyment. This seems to be corroborated by certain groups, such as the couple enclosed in a crystal ball on the left, which probably alludes to the popular Flemish saying: “happiness is like glass, it soon breaks.”

Closed, the triptych offers a grisaille view of the third day of the creation of the World, with God the Father as Creator. The two doors bear inscriptions reading: “He himself said it, and all was done” and “He himself ordered it and all was created.”

This moralizing work is one of Bosch’s most enigmatic, complex and beautiful creations and was made near the end of his life. It was acquired at the auction of Prior don Fernando, the illegitimate son of the Duke of Alba, and was taken to El Escorial in 1593.

It was deposited in the Prado Museum by Patrimonio Nacional in 1939.

Our visit to the museum was an opportunity to connect with Connelly and the works of the artist that is such a big part of his novels.

I recommend the series to anyone who enjoys a good read. For me it was the Vietnam era vet who is the main character, the local color of LA going back to a time I spent a few years in the area, and the references to Tampa and other areas of Florida from Connelly’s past and present.

I’ll leave the interpretation of the paintings and the artist to you. Let me know what you think.