Editing Hieronymus Bosch (section)

== Life ==
Hieronymus Bosch's first name was originally Jheronimus (or Joen,<ref>Dijck (2000): pp. 43–44. A variant on his Middle Dutch name is "Jeroen". Van Dijck points out that in all contemporary sources the name "Jeroen" is used twice, while the name "Joen" is used nine times, making "Joen" to be his probable nickname.</ref> respectively the Latin and [[Middle Dutch]] form of the name "Jerome"), and he signed a number of his paintings as ''Jheronimus Bosch''.<ref>Signed works by Bosch include ''[[The Epiphany (Bosch)|The Adoration of the Magi]]'', ''[[Saint Christopher Carrying the Christ Child]]'', ''[[St. John the Evangelist on Patmos]]'', ''[[The Temptation of St Anthony (Bosch painting)|The Temptation of Saint Anthony]]'', ''[[The Hermit Saint]]s Triptych'', and ''[[The Crucifixion of St Julia]]''.</ref>

His surname Bosch derives from his birthplace, {{nowrap|[['s-Hertogenbosch]]}} ('Duke's forest'), which is commonly called "Den Bosch" ('the forest').<ref>{{cite news|last=Rowland|first=Ingrid D.|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/08/18/mystery-of-hieronymus-bosch/|title=The Mystery of Hieronymus Bosch|date=18 August 2016|work=The New York Review|access-date=12 April 2020 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref>

Little is known of Bosch's life or training. He left behind no letters or diaries, and what has been identified has been taken from brief references to him in the municipal records of {{nowrap|'s-Hertogenbosch}}, and in the account books of the local order of the [[Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady]]. Nothing is known of his personality or his thoughts on the meaning of his art. Bosch's date of birth has not been determined with certainty. It is estimated at {{nowrap|{{circa}} 1450}} on the basis of a hand-drawn portrait (which may be a self-portrait) made shortly before his death in 1516. The drawing shows the artist at an advanced age, probably in his late sixties.<ref>Gibson, 15–16</ref>

Bosch lived all his life in and near {{nowrap|'s-Hertogenbosch}}, in the [[Duchy of Brabant]]. His grandfather Jan van Aken (died 1454) was a painter and is first mentioned in the records in 1430. Jan had five sons, four of whom were also painters. Bosch's father, Anthonius van Aken (died {{circa}} 1478), acted as artistic adviser to the Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady.<ref>Gibson, 15, 17</ref> It is generally assumed that either Bosch's father or one of his uncles taught the artist to paint, but none of their works survive.<ref>Gibson, 19</ref> Bosch first appears in the municipal record on 5 April 1474, when he is named along with two brothers and a sister.<ref name=":0" />

's-Hertogenbosch was a flourishing city in 15th-century [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]], in the south of the present-day Netherlands, at the time part of the [[Burgundian Netherlands]], it was originally under the control of the [[Duchy of Brabant]] before being passed through marriage to the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]].<ref>The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Brabant. Retrieved from Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Brabant
</ref> In 1463, four thousand houses in the town were destroyed by a catastrophic fire, which the then (approximately) thirteen-year-old Bosch presumably witnessed. He became a popular painter in his lifetime and often received commissions from abroad.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bosch, Hieronymus |url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/display/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000010250 |access-date= |website=Grove Art Online |date=2003 |language=en |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t010250 |last1=Vandenbroeck |first1=Paul |isbn=978-1-884446-05-4 }}</ref> In 1486/7, he joined the highly respected Brotherhood of Our Lady, a devotional confraternity of some forty influential citizens of {{nowrap|'s-Hertogenbosch}}, and seven thousand 'outer-members' from around Europe.<ref name=":0" />

Sometime between 1479 and 1481, Bosch married Aleid Goyaerts van den Meervenne, who was a few years his senior. The couple moved to the nearby town of Oirschot, where Aleid Goyaerts van den Meervenne had inherited a house and land from her wealthy family.<ref>Valery, Paul. ''The Phase of Doubt, A Critical Reflection''.</ref> An entry in the accounts of the Brotherhood of Our Lady records Bosch's death in 1516. A funeral mass served in his memory was held in the church of Saint John on 9 August of that year.<ref>Gibson, 18</ref>