Big local news for Hieronymus Bosch fans

bosch

Hieronymus Bosch, Netherlandish (ca. 1450–1516). The Temptation of St. Anthony, ca. 1510-1520. Oil on panel (oak), 15 3/16 x 9 7/8 inches (38.6 x 25.1 cm). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 35-22.

Until recently, there were only four paintings attributed to Hieronymus Bosch in the Unites States. Now there are five – following the discovery of one at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

The museum has had since the 1930s an oil-on-wood panel it attributed to the workshop of the artist. It recently arranged to loan The Temptation of St. Anthony to the Het Noordbrabents Museum in Den Bosch, The Netherlands, for a major exhibit celebrating the 500th anniversary of Bosch’s death. The Dutch museum got interested in the painting and sent a team to Kansas City to study it.

Assisted by curator Rima Girnius and conservator Scott Heffley,  they performed a number of technical examinations that confirmed their earlier impressions, the Nelson-Atkins said in a news release.

“Discoveries such as this do not occur on a regular basis, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have been present,” said Girnius. “There are 25 paintings attributed to Bosch in the entire world with only four in the U.S. Now there are five and one of them happens to be at the Nelson-Atkins.”

The painting, which dates from 1500 to 1510, was last on view at the Nelson-Atkins in 2003.

julian and scott hefley

Julián Zugazagoitia, CEO & Director of the Nelson-Atkins and Scott Heffley, Senior Conservator of Paintings, with the newly authenticated Bosch at Het Noordbrabants Museum.

The discovery of this authentic Bosh painting comes on the eve of a major exhibition of Dutch art at the Nelson-Atkins, Reflecting Class in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer.

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