Hieronymous Bosch, detail from Garden of Earthly Delights (1504)Select one of the paintings posted and review it according to Alberti's criteria for painting. First, decide how you understand Alberti's criteria. Then, talk about the painting and the ways that it appeals to its viewers.
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Istoria is the story that a painting tells. The istoria in this painting is the suffering of humans in hell. The facial expressions of the people show excruciating pain and agony. Along with the humans, there are also animals, musical instruments, and various other objects. The primary focus of this painting is at the center because of the brighter colors that draw in the observers.
According to Alberti, a good instoria is not only when the all the details support the story, but also when the bodies in the painting are harmonized together in both size and function. In this painting, the istoria would not be deemed as good because the musical instruments are many times larger than the human beings, and the animals are about the same size as the people. However, Alberti would argue that the istoria is pleasurable because of the copiousness and the variety that is offered by the painting through the many things that are happening. In addition, in the painting, every person has his own gesture and pose, which shows the movement of his soul. Thus, it shows the modesty and truth that Alberti believes that should be present in every istoria.
As Jean stated, istoria is a painting's story, its argument, its message to the viewer. Alberti's criteria for painting--the rhetoric of the painting--includes line, composition (in which istoria falls under as the "narrative content"), and color.
From the painting, which is part of the right side of Hieronymous Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, we see only a small portion of Hell. From this snippet, we see a very chaotic scene with what seems like an orgy of humans scattered around, entangled upon, and hiding behind musical instruments (a harp, mandolin, a military drum, a bugle, a triangle, a metronome, a book with scores of music, and a flute that resembles a recorder). Various creatures are also presented, including rabbits, demon monsters, and humans that look like they're inside bug costumes. From the top of the painting to the bottom, there is a color variation from dark, mysterious blue, green, and black hues--almost like tar or muck--to a more earthen shades of browns on the land.
Related to Alberti's idea of istoria, the story of this part of the painting seems to depict the the sins of humans, especially with the different facial expressions and the gestures each character has, and possibly attempts to depict the Seven Deadly Sins. (Bosch previously painted The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things.) From the painting, you can see Lust (from the face of the woman on the bottom, the man being groped by a demon above the blue drum, and even Sodomy with the man holding the weight of the large-sized flute upon his shoulder), Gluttony (with the over-sized monster to the right of the mandolin), Sloth (the agonizing man with his hands to his ears, looking as if he were screaming to the sky/God?), Wrath (the demon atop the drum), and Pride (the haughty-looking man to the left of the harp and sneering, but it doesn't look like there's anyone there).
The humans strewn upon the musical instrument look as if they're enslaved to the instrument. In a way, this can be seen as humans being enslaved to music. As music is created for happiness and enjoyment, it's as if the humans in this painting are slaves of their leisures and fancies.
On the top, there's a dark body of water which probably depicts the River Styx.
Bosch's painting provides a lot of istoria with its message that it's delivering through everything that's going on, but Alberti would disagree on the size of the instruments and animals in relation to the humans because they are substantially larger than normal size. All of the humans seem to be adults, which would probably be an indication that adults are more sinful in that time of their life than any other. (It would be strange to see an aged person, and evenmoreso a child, in this picture.)
With pathos, Bosch clearly shows the grotesqueness of Hell and sin through the humans on the painting, which the viewer is more likely relate itself to since we are more likely to be more empathic to the humans through their facial expressions and the message they send through their gestures rather than the malformed demons.
-- Dana Toribio
Alberti’s criteria for painting are three stages, which are line drawing, composition, and color. Composition is the “overall organization of a painting”. When you look at this painting the istoria or “the narrative content of the painting’ seems to be jumping at you. The painting shows the pain and agony of the people. The argument of the painting seems to be pointing out that earthly delights, such as lust, cause you pain and agony. The unusually large musical instruments seem to help tell the story by showing the sins the people in here might have committed. The man on the middle right corner is shown with a possible flute up in a place that the sun doesn’t shine can refer to the sin sodomy. While the instruments might not seem to balance the people in terms of size, Alberti would say that their function in the overall painting is fulfilled. The red creature next to the violin appears to be a “commentator figure, who instructs the viewers how to react to the events depicted. The commentator often exists at the threshold of the world of the picture and the world of the viewers.” The red creature helps us react to the overall painting. The commentator figure is another important part of istoria as Alberti recommends Renaissance painters to have one.
i like how all point to the pain and agony of the painting, the painting's pathos. dana describes it as "grotesqueness." is bosch's point that we should revel in this or that we should react negatively to it?
This is a painting of chaos. If you really look at the painting there is one major color gradient within it. The top of the painting is black, and the bottom of the painting is White. which is ironic due to the fact that is is most likely a representation of hell. Our general perception of Hell is that it is Light above representing Heaven and that it is dark below representing Hell. This painting also shows a lot of pain and agony.... and also a sense of confusion. There is a lot of disfigured creatures and a few phallic symbols within. Also in the bottom right corner there is a man potentially being sodomized by some wooden object. This suggests that there is a series blasphemous portrays. Also one could argue that Jesus is being dangled within the harp.
Now to look at the Instoria: it would be deemed GOOD-The proportions within this painting are pleasing to the eye. The musical instruments at the center of the painting are the largest in proportion to the humans and animals.
Now the other aspect about this painting that Alberti would like is that there is a lot of movement. nothing is repeated in this painting... no 2 things are alike. Alberti feels that action and confusion are a sign of a good painting because it keeps your eyes moving.
“The istoria will move the soul of the beholder when each man painted
there clearly shows the movement of his own soul. It happens in nature that nothing more than herself is found capable of things like herself; we weep with the weeping, laugh with the laughing, and grieve with the grieving.” (p. 77)
There is something almost surreal about this painting. Bosch shows us a grotesque landscape of mankind drowning in pleasures of "earthly delights." The name itself has a biblical reference as it shows that the "Garden of Earthly Delights" is the antithesis to the Garden of Eden. The istoria in this painting leaves a powerful effect which echoes in the deepest parts of the observer. However Alberti may not be pleased with this painting. First the size of the objects and the bodies are disproportional. And the body on top of the middle object appears smaller than the other bodies. The use of white and black is illogical and awkward. There is no source of light on the bottom yet it is much brighter than the top. Also, the painter chose to use the color gold which Alberti does not admire. However, this painting does have its strong points as none of the characters have the same expressions of posture as Alberti stated "Be careful not to repeat the same
gesture or pose ...” (p. 77). Overall, Alberti may not praise this painting to the highest extent; however, may still acknowledge it as a fairly good painting.
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