Presenting Bosch
Jheronimus Bosch Art Center, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

Over five centuries after his death in 1516, Jheronimus Bosch remains an exceptionally popular and famous artist. In the historical ‘Canon of the Netherlands’, only three painters are included: Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh, and Bosch. The two major exhibitions of the paintings and drawings by Jheronimus in ’s-Hertogenbosch and in Madrid that commemorated his death in 2016 drew well over one million visitors. These shows triggered numerous publications and performing arts events, among which a ballet, concerts, and a musical. New websites, videogames, graphic novels, and documentaries aimed to reach additional audiences, further making Bosch into a global household name.

Parallel to this amazing public success, Bosch also keeps attracting ample scholarly attention. Traditionally, scholars of the famous master from ’s-Hertogenbosch have been especially fascinated with the iconography of his works. Since the late 19th century, numerous historians of art and culture have tried to decipher the meaning and the origins of the curious hellish scenes, outlandish monsters and other devilish images in his paintings and drawings. More recently major inroads in technical and archival research have also been published, largely through the Bosch Research and Conservation Project (2010-2020), an initiative that served as a foundation for the exhibition in ’s-Hertogenbosch. The results of these findings allow for a fuller understanding of Jheronimus as a versatile and innovative artist, who worked in the traditional late medieval setting of a family workshop in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

More than a decade after the two major exhibitions in 2016, the conference Presenting Bosch aims to provide a platform for looking back at previous presentations of Jheronimus, and for looking forward to how new insights could be incorporated in future activities. We therefor invite proposals for 25-minute presentations on how Jheronimus Bosch and his work was, is, will be, and could be presented, for example in publication, websites, documentaries, in permanent and temporary museum exhibitions, and through using facsimiles in the works’ original or early locations.

Presentations on any other topics will also be considered. Please send your presentation proposal and a short cv by email to Ron Spronk (spronkrqueensu.ca). The deadline for submissions is November 15, 2026. As with its earlier editions (see below), the conference proceedings will be published.

The conference Presenting Bosch is supported by the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center, the City of ’s Hertogenbosch, Het huis van Bosch, and Radboud University Nijmegen. Conference Committee: dr. Bart Fransen (Centre for the Study of the Flemish Primitives, KIK-IRPA, Brussels), prof. em. dr. Jos Koldeweij (Radboud University Nijmegen), dr. José Juan Pérez Preciado (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid) and prof. dr. Ron Spronk (Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada).

Presenting Bosch will be the sixth international conference organized at the Jheronimus Bosch Art Center (JBAC), after Jheronimus Bosch Revealed: The Painter and His World (2001); Jheronimus Bosch: His Sources (2007); Jheronimus Bosch: His Patrons and His Public (2012); Jheronimus Bosch: His Life and His Work (2016); and Defining boundaries: Jheronimus Bosch, his workshop, and his followers (2023).

At the JBAC, the conference will be organized and coordinated by Willeke Cornelissen, MA, and Jo Timmermans. The JBAC is a study and documentation center for the works and the world of Bosch for both specialists and a more general public. A large, specialized library can be consulted and reproductions of the entire oeuvre in 1:1 scale are on display. The JBAC also sponsors the web site Closer to Bosch, through which the findings of the BRCP are becoming freely and fully available.