Curator
Lorne Campbell*
From the museum website
The exhibition brings together paintings, prints and drawings that demonstrate the influence of the great Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch (about 1450 – 1516) on his compatriot Pieter Bruegel the Elder (about 1525 – 1569). Both were highly inventive artists, who profoundly influenced the fantasies and perceptions of succeeding generations.
Two early versions of Bosch’s Adoration of the Kings, that are being lent by the National Trust, were investigated during recent cleaning and offer new insight into the connections with the National Gallery’s Crowning with Thorns by Bosch, and Bruegel’s Adoration of the Kings. Also coming to the exhibition is Bruegel’s beautiful Death of the Virgin, from Upton House, which is in a tradition of grisaille painting that owes much to Bosch’s innovations.