Bosch's 'Hell Bird' Garden of Earthly Delights (1 Viewer)

[Simoncarr]

Hi all: I'm writing a monograph on the above painting. In the right panel (Hell) there is a predator bird sitting on his - let's call it a throne. He is devouring a horizontal man. Any idea what that bird is? Or what it is most like?

File:Bosch, Hieronymus - The Garden of Earthly Delights, right panel - Detail Bird-headed monster or The Prince of Hell - close-up head (lower right).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

Your expert opinion will be highly valued.

Many thx!

 

[Butty]

Owlet-nightjar?
No, that's fatuous. It looks like nothing, it's invented - just as someone who can paint a man with a flock birds flying out of his &rse is capable of inventing anything.

 

[mummymonkey]

I always took it to be a representation of a nightjar.

 

[Simoncarr]

Thank you! Many of his other birds are pretty representative. Any ideas on these?

 

[Simoncarr]

Art critics say this is a shrike but I though the beak was too long for that . . . ?

 

[Simoncarr]

And how about this character?

 

[Simoncarr]

I like nightjar, that's very good, thank you!

 

[Butty]

Seems he had a good look at a lot of stuffed birds. Maybe the first one is an owlet-nightjar after all.

 

[Butty]

Art critics say this is a shrike

I wouldn't bother talking to art critics who aren't also birders! In other words... no, it isn't.

 

[Simoncarr]

Any idea what the non-shrike might be? What sort of bird it could be?

 

[Butty]

Nope.

 

[jogresh]

Thank you! Many of his other birds are pretty representative. Any ideas on these?

View attachment 1399972

I've always been fascinated by the depiction of birds in art and literature through the ages.
In this one you have drake Mallard, Tawny Owl, Hoopoe, Kingfisher, Robin, Goldfinch, Green Woodpecker, as well as a few less accurate/more artistically licensed.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

The bird in the upper left corner might be an Eurasian Jay, but if this so, the artist hasnt got it well. Said that, I fully agree with Butty to be cautious about artistic interpretations

 

[jogresh]

Ah yes, good shout, looks like it's based on a Jay. And i'd agree that the original bird is based on a Nightjar.

 

[tconzemi]

I fully agree with nightjar type bird
And out of the anus some swifts? (Not very accurate)
Bird in post 5 seems to have a very long bill (or is it an artefact), only hummingbirds and sunbirds possible than
Same for post 6
When was this actually painted?

 

[Butty]

The most interesting ones in the multi-bird detail are the two small ones at bottom right: both plausibly real, but I don't recognise either.

 

[jogresh]

And how about this character?
View attachment 1399974

This looks to be based on a Treecreeper - forked, bendy tail tip, wingbar, feet, bill, general shape and slimness. But they've got the colours all wrong! I think Bosch was 16th century? Google would know for definite.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Beeing an well-known painting in artists circles, I assumed that some people have asked the question about ID of the birds before:

The birds in The Garden of Earthly Delights |

We invite you to birdwatch in The Garden of Earthly Delights, the masterpiece of Hieronymus Bosch

birding140.com

Please note, that Bosch used many species that represent attributes/characters understood by people of that time (I am no expert in this, so if this of deeper interest, others should jump in)

Tom, it was painted betwenn 1490 and 1500.

 

[mummymonkey]

This looks to be based on a Treecreeper - forked, bendy tail tip, wingbar, feet, bill, general shape and slimness. But they've got the colours all wrong! I think Bosch was 16th century? Google would know for definite.

A wagtail was what came to my mind.

 

[tconzemi]

Tom, it was painted betwenn 1490 and 1500.

Ok than forget the hummingbirds