Hieronymus Bosch

Michael told me to look at this fellow in relation to Religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch

Early Netherlandish painter of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The artist's work is well-known for the use of fantastic imagery to illustrate moral and religious concepts and narratives.











The Garden of Earthly Delights. Dating between 1503 and 1504, when Bosch was about 50 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious work.
The left panel depicts God presenting to Adam the newly created Eve, while the central panel is a broad panorama of sexually engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized fruit and hybrid stone formations. The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation.

When closed the outer panels are generally thought to depict the creation of the world. Bosch shows God as the father sitting with a Bible on his lap, creating the Earth in a passive manner by divine fiat.














Bosch was a member of 'Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Blessed Lady', a religious group.
In a discussion with Michael, he said that this group was thought of as a bit of a cult, engaging in group sex and blah blah.
However, I can't actually find much on the group but it does lead me on to researching religious cults....