In 1947, a notoriously elusive work by Hieronymus Bosch elicited divergent responses from three German-born thinkers. Against the backdrop of the 500th anniversary of Bosch’s death (1516), Professor Koerner reflects on the causes and implications of this telling episode of interpretative confusion.
This lecture was held at the 2016 Holberg Symposium: "Art in Life / Life in Art" in honour of Holberg Laureate Stephen Greenblatt.
Biography: Joseph Leo Koerner is Victor S. Thomas Professor of History of Art and Architecture and Senior Fellow at the Society of Fellows, Harvard University. He is also a film-maker and is currently making a documentary on Viennese homemaking titled The Burning Child. Select works: The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art (1994) and Bosch and Bruegel: From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life (forthcoming 2016).