Hieronymus Bosch painting turned into virtual reality film

A Bristol design team has breathed new life into a 500-year-old painting by turning it into a 3D film.

The virtual reality experience allows the viewer to get up close and personal with The Garden of Earthly Delights by Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch.

John Durrant's team created the film for the 500th anniversary celebrations of the painter's life.

From the back of a fish, the viewer moves through the Garden of Eden into temptation before ending in Hell.

BDH Design and Direction used computer technology to cut out the trees, flowers, fantastical animals and images of torture from the three paintings which make up the original work.

These were then animated and given a 3D feel so the viewer is taken inside the painting.

Bosch's original oil on wood work is housed in Madrid's Prado Museum and is too fragile to be moved to his home town for the year of celebrations.

Lian Duif, director of the Bosch500 festival, said the film "gives fans an authentic experience".

The Bosch VR film, which took six months to create, is designed to be seen using a Google Cardboard viewer with a smartphone and headphones, but can also be watched on a tablet.

Mr Durrant is co-owner and director BDH, which made an animated app to accompany a BBC Two programme War of Words.

This app was the first VR app for the BBC. It uses Google Cardboard Viewers and it was nominated for a BAFTA on 2015.

Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights

16th Century Dutch painter Bosch is known for fantastic imagery and complex details

The Garden of Earthly Delights is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest Renaissance paintings

The original work measures 13ft (11.8m) by 7ft (6.4m)

The painting is a triptych, consisting of a square middle panel flanked by two rectangular wings that close over the centre as shutters.

It depicts Bosch's view of the world with Paradise on the left, a garden of earthly pleasures in the centre and a vision of hell on the right

When the hinged panels are closed they show God creating the world as a black and white flat Earth enclosed within a bubble

The idea is that when the painting is opened the opulence and richness of the colours within will be a shock