High resolution images of The Garden of Earthly Delights
February 6, 2016 3:26 PM   Subscribe

Hieronymus Bosch's amazing painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights. Exceptional detail, zoom in or out inside the painting. There are many stories hidden behind the images inside the painting. Click on the white text boxes to listen to and/or read the stories.

There is a trailer for the film connected with this website, called Jheronimus Bosch, Touched by the Devil.

Also has a Dutch language option.
posted by nickyskye (35 comments total) 175 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.
posted by Fizz at 3:29 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Seconded.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:31 PM on February 6, 2016


Honestly think this is better than seeing it in person. The details are so small that you have to squint when you're seeing it at the museum, and there's always a crowd. Really well done.
posted by town of cats at 3:35 PM on February 6, 2016 [7 favorites]


I've found six rabbits so far.
posted by lagomorphius at 3:47 PM on February 6, 2016 [10 favorites]


This is amazing. Thank you for posting.
posted by jammy at 4:00 PM on February 6, 2016


This is the work of art that struck me like a sledgehammer as a senior in high school, where a teacher had it up on her bulletin board. In turn this love led me to a vital career in art history, wherein I took out a lot of student loans in order to work for museums and get glamorous intimate close-up time with famous works of art, get personally yelled at over the phone by studio assistants who work for major artists, and also get paid with whatever coins the director has found in his couch cushions the night before.

ANYWAY.

I am trying to figure out if there is any way possible to get to the incredible exhibition that opens in a few days in Amsterdam, but I don't think it's possible and that makes me sad. So I'm going to go look at this painting some more.
posted by PussKillian at 4:16 PM on February 6, 2016 [15 favorites]


My in-laws visited the museum and bought me the little bird/scribe figure that appears in the bottom of the right-hand panel. I keep it on my desk at work and I've had a few people go "Oh that's so cute..." and then after a closer look "Eww...is that a severed foot? What...why..?"

Oh yes, definitely worth it.
posted by ninazer0 at 4:38 PM on February 6, 2016 [11 favorites]


Absolutely fantastic way to explore the work. I'll definitely check out the film, though I'm sure it'll just make me wish I was instead watching The Mill and the Cross.
posted by Room 101 at 4:47 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Really fascinating. So many ideas. So different to a non-literate society. You think of Umberto Eco -- a whole language of iconography.

Interesting that the flights of fancy are so organic.
posted by Trochanter at 4:54 PM on February 6, 2016


This is what I always hoped the Internet would be like. Thank you.
posted by bonobothegreat at 5:11 PM on February 6, 2016 [11 favorites]


This is so much better than the latest outrage post, or the latest massively promoted music video...
posted by Wolfdog at 5:26 PM on February 6, 2016 [3 favorites]


Btw - there's an absurdly large jpeg of this (30,000 x 17,078 pixels) that you can just download from the Wikipedia page.
posted by lagomorphius at 6:22 PM on February 6, 2016 [8 favorites]


Are there more things like this? I could take gorgeous guided tours all day (with bonus points for not having to wear pants while doing so).
posted by tummy_rub at 6:33 PM on February 6, 2016 [4 favorites]


Are there more things like this?

I was hoping for a nice index of high resolution art on Wikipedia, but instead I stumbled on Google Cultural Institute, aka Google Art Project (Wikipedia), which "is an online platform through which the public can access high-resolution images of artworks housed in the initiative’s partner museums." I just stared deeply into the eyes of Walt Whitman, and I left lest I wake up with keyboard imprints on my cheek and my laptop making angry sounds because I had been drooling into it.

And then I remembered to search Wikimedia, and I found Commons:Very high-resolution file downloads, and Category:Gigapixel images from the Google Art Project, but it seems Wikimedia limits file sizes to 100 MB, so the full resolution on Google Art Project is 2 to 8 times greater.
posted by filthy light thief at 6:43 PM on February 6, 2016 [20 favorites]


I love this! Thanks so much for posting!
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 7:19 PM on February 6, 2016


This makes me so happy. Why can't all great works of art get this treatment? It's awesome. Exactly the kind of thing I geek out over. Thank you for the post!
posted by pjsky at 7:51 PM on February 6, 2016


This is awesome! I like how the sound effects change depending on what you are looking at...
posted by surlyben at 8:07 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Turns out the "butt song from hell" is rather pretty, at least in this reconstruction. I'll let somebody else search for the heavy-metal version.

How much more metal can you get than the butt song from hell? None.
posted by Quietgal at 8:59 PM on February 6, 2016


Wow. Just, wow.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:00 PM on February 6, 2016


related: Buckethead speedmetal video featuring him in an animated Bosch world.
posted by shavenwarthog at 9:40 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I've found six rabbits so far.
posted by lagomorphius


Well, you would.
posted by yhbc at 10:42 PM on February 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Why can't all great works of art get this treatment?

In the art world there is a very strong impulse to hoard and control access. Most owners of art, be they individuals or museums, are not especially interested in releasing gigapixel scans of their collections.
posted by ryanrs at 11:26 PM on February 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


This has been the background of my phone's lock screen and home screen for years. 50 XP for guessing which panel is which.
posted by clorox at 11:39 PM on February 6, 2016


Most owners of art, be they individuals or museums, are not especially interested in releasing gigapixel scans of their collections.

Yeah. They can't force you to exit through the gift shop online.
posted by Jimbob at 1:25 AM on February 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


I have a copy of this on my wall, and have had done for 20 years.
I've loved it since I was Torquemada walk through it in Diceman.

Now maybe I will know what that person has flowers up their arse.
posted by Mezentian at 3:20 AM on February 7, 2016


Where's Wally?
posted by flabdablet at 5:50 AM on February 7, 2016 [1 favorite]



Honestly think this is better than seeing it in person.



I think it is much better than seeing it in person. I was at the Prado a few weeks ago and tried to get a good look at this painting but was always crowded out of the way by Chinese tour groups with their tour leader giving a half hour lecture complete with expansions on their iPad. Once one tour group left another took is place so I just gave up and bought a poster of it from the gift shop. I think these tours take four hours but you get marched around and only really look at eight paintings.
posted by koolkat at 5:51 AM on February 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


The painting is huge in real life. Dare I say, yuuuge. It's over 7 feet high and over 12 feet wide. In the old days before a gazillion tourists and the better lighting, one could go right up to it but it was still too big to really look at all the juicy details, even if one craned one's neck for hours and stood on tiptoes until one's calves got cramps.

And this painting was meant to be really looked at up close.

Now, forgetaboutit, it's on a kind of shelf 3 feet deep, a couple feet off the floor and behind a rope. So everybody is about 6 feet away from this baby. No way can anybody really see the painting's cool stuff as it needs.

Not all great works of art need a super up close and personal view but this one really does.
posted by nickyskye at 6:43 AM on February 7, 2016


My favorite thing in this whole painting(s) is the casual jackalope just hanging out in a corner.
posted by The Whelk at 7:10 AM on February 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


My local museum has The Temptation of St Anthony triptych, which is also fabulous. It's nicely displayed, you can get pretty close to it and there's hardly ever very many people in the room.

And the triptych has my favorite Bosch figure, the skating mailbird.
posted by chavenet at 8:23 AM on February 7, 2016 [2 favorites]


And the triptych has my favorite Bosch figure, the skating mailbird.

Postage due... your soul.
posted by lagomorphius at 8:48 AM on February 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


I've found six rabbits so far.
posted by lagomorphius

Well, you would.


My favorite is the devil bunny in the parade of the damned way up in the upper third of the right panel.

My favorite thing in this whole painting(s) is the casual jackalope just hanging out in a corner.

Thanks! That's seven rabbits.
posted by lagomorphius at 8:53 AM on February 7, 2016


XTC, "Garden of Earthly Delights"
posted by kirkaracha at 9:33 AM on February 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


when i was unexpectedly at the prado, i was the only one in the room. i stayed for at least an hour. wow.
posted by j_curiouser at 11:17 PM on February 7, 2016


And the triptych has my favorite Bosch figure, the skating mailbird.

Is that South Park's Sparrow Prince behind him?
Has anyone seen Lemmiwinks?
posted by Mezentian at 11:42 PM on February 7, 2016


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