Choir's Devil from John at Patmos

Choir's Devil from John at Patmos

By Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450-1519)

This theatrical black freak could be a Tytinillus. This spy kept an eye on the clergymen who were members of the choir. If the gentlemen didn't keep their minds on the lesson or if they let their thoughts wander off into undesired directions, then, on Judgment Day, they were confronted with the accurate notes of this spectacled bookkeeper. What his plans were with the hook remains open to question. This instrument was normally used by the devil to drag sinful souls into hell.

Dimensions: 4 in. x 3.5 in. x 3 in.. 0.4 lb. Made of quality resin with hand-painted color details.

Hieronymus Bosch the world famous brilliant forerunner of surrealism was, in his day, unique and radically different. Hieronymus (Jeroen for short) Bosch was born (ca. 1450-1516) during the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, in the Duchy of Brabant. Bosch places visionary images in a hostile world full of mysticism, with the conviction that the human being, due to its own stupidity and sinfulness has become prey to the devil himself. He holds a mirror to the world with his cerebral irony and magical symbolism, sparing no one. He aims his mocking arrows equally well at the hypocrisy of the clergy as the extravagance of the nobility and the immorality of the people. Hieronymus Bosch’s style arises from the tradition of the book illuminations (manuscript illustrations from the Middle Ages). The caricature representation of evil tones down its terrifying implications, but also serves as a defiant warning with a theological basis.