1) What do we know about Hieronymus Bosh?

He is complex, mysterious, and therefore interesting in our time.

We know very little about the artist Bosch.

Bosch’s date of birth has not been determined with certainty.

Bosch was born and lived all his life in and near ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the capital of the Dutch province of Brabant.

His grandfather, Jan van Aken (died 1454), was a painter and is first mentioned in the records in 1430. It is known that Jan had five sons, four of whom were also painters.

 Bosch’s father, Anthonius van Aken (died c. 1478) acted as artistic adviser to the Brotherhood of Our Lady. It is generally assumed that either Bosch’s father or one of his uncles taught the artist to paint, however none of their works survive.

2) Was he the messiah, the antichrist, the forecaster, the alchemist, the religious man or the heretic, the madman, or perhaps all of this at once?

He likes to use the method of narration where the biblical story lies on the surface, further local folklore, further away is satire, allegories, symbols.