Name: ________________________

Use the description on page 410 of the red book Art in Focus and draw arrows pointing to places that the artist has used symbolism and write that explanation next to your arrow. Feel free to add more arrows and explanations if you see symbols that the book missed.

Hieronymus Bosch, Death and the Miser, c. 1485-90. Oil on panel, 36 5/8x12 3/16, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Board of Trustees, Samuel H Kress Collection.

A moral tale
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/death-miser 14 Oct 2002, Nicolas Pioch

Another of Bosch's panel paintings, Death and the Miser, serves as a warning to anyone who has grabbed at life's pleasures, without being sufficiently detached, and who is unprepared to die. Who can feel indifferent to this fable? In a long and concentrated Bosch sets out the whole painful scenario. The naked and dying man has been a man of power: at the bed's foot, but sundered now by a low wall, lies his armour. His riches have come through combat; the sick man has fought for his wealth and stored it close to him. He appears twice, the second time in full health, soberly dressed because he hoards his gold, dense with satisfaction as he adds another coin. Demons lurk all around, death puts a leering head around the door (notice the sick man's surprise: death is never expected), and the final battle begins. It is one he must wage without his armour. Behind him, even now proffering gold, lurks a demon. Above the bed, expectant and interested, peers yet another demon. The outcome of the story is left undecided.

Use the description on page 410 of the red book Art in Focus and draw arrows pointing to places that the artist has used symbolism and write that explanation next to your arrow. Feel free to add more arrows and explanations if you see symbols that the book missed.

Hieronymus Bosch,

Death and the Miser,

c. 1485-90. Oil on panel, 36 5/8x12 3/16, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Board of Trustees, Samuel H Kress Collection.

In this slender panel, probably a wing from a larger altarpiece, a dying man seems torn between salvation and his own avarice (greed). At the foot of the bed a younger man, possibly the miser at an earlier age, hypocritically throws coins into a chest with one hand as he fingers a rosary with the other. In his last hour, with death literally at the door, the miser still hesitates; will he reach for the demon's bag of gold or will he follow the angel's gesture and direct his final thoughts to the crucifix in the window? Avarice (to crave) was one of the seven deadly sins and among the final temptations described in the Ars moriendi (Art of Dying), a religious treatise probably written about 1400 and later popularized in printed books. Bosch's painting is similar to illustrations in these books, but his introduction of ambiguity and suspense is unique.

Use the description on page 410 of the red book Art in Focus and draw arrows pointing to places that the artist has used symbolism and write that explanation next to your arrow. Feel free to add more arrows and explanations if you see symbols that the book missed.

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson833/Deconstructed.pdf

Vocabulary

Definition

Part of the picture that represents the vocabulary Draw and arrow to the part of the picture that fits with the vocabulary, and in the box, explain how the part that you chose fit the definition

Protagonist

Leading character or hero

Denotative Symbol

Represented by a visual symbol

Connotative Symbol

Suggested at, but not obviously pointed out

Name: _____________________________________________________________________________

Choose 3 of the following questions about the painting and on the back of this paper answer the questions in your own opinion.
Crucifix 1. What is the symbolic meaning of the beam of light? 2. How does the beam of lights symbolic meaning contribute to the protagonists conflict?
Demon over the bed 1. What is the symbolic meaning of the Demon perched on top of the bed? 2. How does the demon perched on top of the bed contribute to the main conflict of this work? Death 1. What is the symbolic meaning of the image of Death? What specific aspect of death is being communicated by this symbol? 2. Describe Deaths effect on the dying Miser. What comment does this make about how Middle Age society (when this painting was made) viewed death? Dying Miser 1. Identify the denotative and connotative meanings of the word miser. 2. Is the miser looking at Death, the demon, or the crucifix? Explain the significance of the direction in which he is looking. 3. Describe the movement of the dying Miser. What does this movement suggest about the nature of the Misers character? 4. What is the conflict being experienced by the Miser? Identify the elements that are causing this conflict. Demon beside the bed 1. What is the symbolic meaning of this demons movement? 2. How does this demon contribute to the protagonists conflict? Angel 1. What is the symbolic meaning of the angels movement? 2. How does the angel contribute to the protagonists conflict?

Healthy Miser 1. What does the movement of the healthy Miser suggest about the nature of his character? 2. What are the symbolic meanings of the key and rosary? What do these symbols suggest about the nature of the Misers character? 3. Explain how the healthy Misers character contributes to the central conflict of this painting.
Demon beside the lockbox 1. What comment is made through the indulgence held in the hand of the demon beside the lockbox? Knights Armor 1. What does this armor suggest about the Misers past? 2. How does the armor serve as a contrast to the image of the Miser dying in the bed?

And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a ditch.

Peter Bruegel, The Parable of the Blind, 1568, Tempera on canvas. 34x60, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy.

Given the proverb that the work illustrates, what do the blind men probably symbolize? What kind of building is show in the background. Why do you think Bruegal included it? Is this painting more realistic or more emotional?