“Step into a rare, serene vision of the afterlife by Hieronymus Bosch. This painting offers a peaceful, almost dreamlike ascent to heaven, a striking contrast to his more famous depictions of damnation.”
In Hieronymus Bosch's "Ascent of the Blessed," a radiant tunnel of light draws a procession of figures upwards, away from the earthly realm below. This isn't the chaotic, nightmarish vision often associated with Bosch, but rather a serene, almost ethereal journey towards divine illumination. Angels guide the nude, weightless souls, their bodies appearing translucent against the deep blues and grays of the lower atmosphere. The composition emphasizes a stark contrast between the shadowed, material world and the brilliant, spiritual destination, inviting contemplation on the nature of salvation and the afterlife in late 15th-century thought. The work's oil on panel medium allows for a remarkable luminosity in the central tunnel, a visual metaphor for heavenly ascent.
- Artist
- Hieronymus Bosch
- Date
- 1490
- Location
- Palazzo Grimani di Santa Maria Formosa
What to Notice
Five details hide in plain sight. Here’s where to look.
The glowing, almost electric blue of the celestial tunnel.
The serene expressions on the faces of the ascending figures.
The way angels gently support and guide the blessed souls.
The dark, almost indistinct landscape far below the ascent.
1 more detail is waiting.
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Hieronymus Bosch
1450–1516 · Northern Low CountriesHieronymus Bosch, a Dutch painter from the Northern Low Countries, filled his oak panels with fantastic illustrations of religious concepts, from the Garden of Eden to macabre depictions of hell.
Further Works by Bosch
The Garden of Paradise
1495 · Art Institute of Chicago
The Conjurer (The Juggler)
1502
The Adoration of the Magi
Noordbrabants Museum
The Last Judgment
1478 · Art Institute of Chicago
Christ Child with a Walking Frame
1480 · Kunsthistorisches Museum
Crucifixion with a Donor
1485 · Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
St. John on Patmos
1489 · Gemäldegalerie Berlin
St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness
1489 · Lázaro Galdiano Museum
More from Northern Renaissance
More works to explore
Beyond Bosch and Northern Renaissance: works from the same years.
Same era · 1470s–1500s
Portrait of a Musician
Leonardo da Vinci · 1485 · Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
Same era · 1470s–1500s
Jacopo Pesaro, Bishop of Paphos, being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter
Titian · 1504 · Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
Same era · 1470s–1500s
Marriage of Mary and Joseph
Master of the View of Saint Gudula · 1480 · Munich Central Collecting Point
Same era · 1470s–1500s
Self-portrait, Study of a Hand and a Pillow (recto); Six Studies of Pillows (verso)
Albrecht Dürer · 1493 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1470s–1500s
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints John the Baptist and Sebastian
Pietro Perugino · 1493 · Uffizi Gallery
Same era · 1470s–1500s
Plate with arms of the Tosinghi family
Artist Unknown - The Mercat Cross, Aberdeen · 1495 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1470s–1500s
Adoration of the Christ Child
Workshop of Andrea della Robbia · 1479 · Art Institute of Chicago