With 67 color illustrations, 4 b/w illustrations

Now available in a new edition, this book explores Hieronymus Bosch’s masterpiece
"Garden of Earthly Delights."

Few paintings inspire the kind of intense study and speculation as "Garden of Earthly Delights," the world-famous triptych by Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch. The painting has been interpreted as a heretical masterpiece, an opulent illustration of the Creation, and a premonition of the end of the world. In this book, renowned art historian Hans Belting offers a radical reinterpretation of the work, which he sees not as apocalyptic but utopian, portraying how the world would exist had the Fall not happened. Taking readers through each panel, Belting discusses various schools of thought and explores Bosch’s life and times. This fascinating study is an important contribution to the literature and theory surrounding one of the world’s most enigmatic artists.

Hans Belting was Professor for Art History and Media Theory at the Academy for Design in Karlsruhe, Germany.