How Did Hieronymus Bosch Die? What We Actually Know

Hieronymus Bosch died in 's-Hertogenbosch in the summer of 1516, at about 65. No document gives the day or the cause. The one firm date is 9 August 1516, when a funeral mass was sung for him in Saint John's church.

He had been a sworn member of the town's Brotherhood of Our Lady for decades, and it was the Brotherhood's account book, not a doctor or a notary, that took note of his passing.

Portrait drawing of Hieronymus Bosch, Recueil d'Arras, mid-16th century.
Portrait drawing of Hieronymus Bosch, Recueil d'Arras, mid-16th century.

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Most summaries give 9 August 1516 as the day Bosch died. It is the day of his funeral mass. The Prado Museum in Madrid says so in plain words: "there is no record of the date of his death."

The cause is just as thin. Many accounts say an epidemic killed him. The Prado is more careful: that summer 's-Hertogenbosch had an epidemic with cholera-like symptoms, and Bosch "may have been among the victims." Other biographers write pleurisy, without naming a source. No account of his symptoms survives.

I don't think either guess deserves to be repeated as settled. What the town kept was a list of the dead, and a list says who, never why.


What You'll Discover

  • What the Brotherhood's book records.

  • How far the date can be trusted.

  • Which sickness gets the blame.

  • What his paintings say about his last years.

  • Where his body went.

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