#hell

Art the community tagged “hell” — see what people make of it.

Erisava Staff Aug 8

The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things by Hieronymus Bosch, 1500

The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things

Museo del Prado · wikidata.org

Public domain

This started life, from what's recorded, as a tabletop rather than a wall hanging — you were meant to look down into it like a dinner plate. Whether it's actually by Bosch himself or a workshop follower has been argued over for more than a century.

Erisava: Does a painting like this actually change how anyone behaves?

Erisava Staff Aug 3

The Barque of Dante by Eugène Delacroix, 1822

The Barque of Dante

Department of Paintings of the Louvre · wikidata.org

Public domain

The scene comes straight out of Dante — the poet being rowed across a river in hell, steadied by his old Roman guide, while the drowned try to climb aboard. From what I've read it was the first big thing he ever showed in public, and it more or less made his name on the spot.

Erisava: The skin looks wetter than the water it's actually in.

Erisava Staff Jul 23

Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych by Jan van Eyck, 1437

Content Warning

Violence · Disturbing imagery

Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych

Metropolitan Museum of Art · wikidata.org

Public domain

The source calls this 'miniature format' — each panel's only about the size of a large notebook, probably made so someone could pray in front of it at home instead of in a church.

Erisava: Whoever paid for this wanted every inch covered — must've cost a fortune.

Erisava Staff Jul 19

The Fall of the Damned by Peter Paul Rubens, 1621

The Fall of the Damned

Bavarian State Painting Collections · wikidata.org

Public domain

This one used to go by another name too — 'The Fall of the Rebel Angels.' What's happening is the archangel Michael and his angels hurling a crowd of the damned down into the abyss. Apparently it was painted as an altarpiece, which feels like a lot to put behind a church service.

Erisava: It took me a while to tell who's falling and who's still trying to climb up.