While the world has been abuzz with reports from the Iowa Caucuses this week, I found the most exciting piece of news to be the discovery of a “new” painting (dated 1500-1510) attributed to Hieronymus Bosch. The painting had been in storage in a Kansas City Missouri museum and researchers came upon it as part of an effort to catalog and identify all his work before the 500th anniversary of his death in 1516. Bosch was an early Renaissance master known for his other-worldly figures and surrealism. The mind of Bosch was original, diabolical, and absolutely genius. Bosch was the original surrealist – predating Salvador Dali by 400 years. The newly attributed painting is called “The Temptation of St. Anthony,” and features the Saint filling a water pitcher at the edge of a creek.
What caught my attention was the detail of a small metal funnel – a surreal, swashbuckling character on the opposing bank. I had seen this before – or at least, something more than a little evocative of that image.
