Cory Newman Professor Poff Art History 2 8/20/2015

Visions of Judgment

Hell: a dark, fiery, place of suffering and lamentation has a place in many religions in some form. No one truly knows what looks like; however, the general consensus is of these characteristics, and some of the best depictions of hell are of the Christian hell. One of the best interpretations of hell is Dante

Aligheri’s Divine Comedy, a poem written in 1321 C.E., wherein Dante is guided through the nine circles of the “Inferno”, or hell, by Virgil, a roman poet born in

70 B.C.E who is best known for his authoring of the epic poem Aeneid, in search of his lost love Beatrice. Dante’s work has inspired artists to make works based on the loose description Dante had laid out. Sandro Botticelli in 1495 created

100 sketches of the Divine Comedy, Gustave Dore’ in 1890 created 120 engravings to go along with the poem. Dante inspired both of these artists, whereas an artist such as whose Garden of Earthly Delights is generally thought of as being inspired by the Christian ideals of humanities inability to resist temptation. It is fascinating how artists are able to express individual versions of hell despite being given a universal description. Most religions have some form of hell in its beliefs. Judaism has , a place where the dead reside, and eventually Molech a fire god who took human sacrifices. The Ancient Greeks had the Fields of Punishment in , a place for those that created havoc on the world, Hades himself would make their punishment based on their sin or crime. Islamic hell is described as a place full of fire and indescribable tortures. Naraka, the home of Yama, the god of death, is the Hindu equivalent of Hell where sinners are tormented after death. These are just a few examples of how hell is thought to be in different religions.

The origins of the Christian hell are somewhat cloudy in detail, however it is believed that the valley of Hinnom or was a place where apostate

Israelites or Canaanites would sacrifice their children to the fire god Moloch.

Around the time of Christ the valley was also being used as a place to dump the bodies of dead criminals. To ensure the fires in the valley continued to burn, at times sulphur would be added to the pyre. Jesus associated Gehenna with the place of Jewish prophecy where the “...corpses of those who rebel against God are left unburied, exposed to the warm that never dies and the fire is never extinguished”. (Origins)

The romanticized vision we have of the Christian hell today was vastly due to Dante’s 34 canto Inferno of the divine comedy. In Dante’s trek through hell, he describes what he sees and the dreadful feelings he has where there. The deeper he goes into hell, the worse the feelings are. Artists like Bosch, Dore’, and Botticelli all had some underlying reason as to why they chose to make their vision of Christian hell look the way it does but all have at least one thing in common, terror, and have Dante Aligheri to thank for the inspiration.

Artist: Hieronymus Bosch

Title of Work: Garden of Earthly Delights

Date Completed: 1515

Medium: Oil on wood panel

Current Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Garden of Earthy Delights is an oil painted triptych, a panel painting that is divided into three sections that are usually hinged together and can be folded shut. In an almost dreamlike setting, Bosch uses these three panels creatively by painting on the left panel a calm, yet somewhat odd depiction of

Adam and Eve surrounded by serene animals. In the central panel, which some believe to be the actual “garden of earthly delights” is another distinct depiction but of a full scene of humans, mostly nude, peculiar animals, and large fruit. This panel gives a sense of reckless abandon, as well as an inconsequential carefree-like attitude toward existence, which could possibly symbolize sinfully pleasurable acts that are thought of as leading to ones soul to hell. The right panel, Bosch reserved for his vision of a hellscape. In this panel there is a noticeable change in the carefree mood, with the highly contrasting dark tones, fire every where, torture chambers in the form of musical instruments, warmth of the daylight from the previous panels is now replaced by dark and dreary grey- tones. Also of note is the water in the left and middle panel is frozen over in the right panel. This panel seems to be of the consequences of the amorous and self-indulgence acts seen throughout the middle panel.

It is possible Bosch could have chosen to make this piece a triptych in relation to the holy trinity: the father (left panel), the son (middle panel), the Holy

Spirit (right panel). In her book “Art History” Marilyn Stokstad says that the subject of this work is the belief in the natural state of human sinfulness. To quote Stokstads opinion on the right panel “ In hell, at the right, sensual pleasures- eating, drinking, music and dancing- become instruments of torture in a dark world of fire and ice” (Stokstad)

Bosch, born in 1450 in what is now the Netherlands, has been characterized as a brilliant and original northern European painter of the late

Middle Ages. Once the public saw Bosch’s work he was recognized as a highly imaginative “creator of devils” whose material was highly satirical, critics as well believed Bosch must have been part of secret sects. Later in his life however he was considered a distinguished painter especially in his hometown. Not only did he paint, he also worked with altarpieces and made designs with stained glass.

(Hieronymus) Artist: Sandro Botticelli

Title of Work: Map of Hell

Date Completed: circa 1480–1495

Medium: Pen and Brush on Vellum

Current Location: Vatican Library, Vatican City

This image is a chart of the nine circles of Hell as described by Dante Aligheri in his 14th century epic poem Divine Comedy. Hell is depicted as nine circles located in and down to the center of the earth. Botticelli was fascinated by this poem and decided to accompany each canto, 100 in total, of the poem with a full-page illumination that showed the cantos entire narrative sequence, however only four images were ever actually illuminated. Only 92 of the original 100 sketches survive today split between Berlin and the Vatican. Botticelli most likely began this series in the mid 1480s and finished them in the mid 1490s. The Map of Hell was a full two-page spread that would have been either at the beginning or end of the Inferno.

Based on the sin of a person, Minos, the serpent-like judge of souls, would decide which circle or punishment they would spend eternity by wrapping his tail around the soul and depending on the number of times it wrapped around would be the circle the soul went. The first five circles of hell, or upper hell, were reserved for sinners who could not control their earthly desires. In the vestibule of hell were the neutrals, angels who did not choose a side to fight for between God and Lucifer, whose punishment was to be constantly stung by bees and flies. The 1st circle of hell, or , was for virtuous pagans and unbaptized infants whose punishment was boredom and not knowing God. The

2nd circle was for the lustful that were blown forever by storm winds. Gluttons filled the 3rd circle forced to lay in filth and muck for eternity. Pushing rocks endlessly was the punishment of the greedy in the 4th circle. The last circle of upper hell, circle 5, was for the angry and sullen who were forced to fight each other in frustration, and sulk under water refusing to do any action. Lower hell, circles 6,7,and 8, were for the heretics, the violent, and the fraudulent respectively. Heretics were trapped in burning tombs, while the violent had three different forms of punishment depending on the sin. If they were violent against another person they were submerged in blood, the more they killed the deeper they were submerged. Suicides souls were trapped inside inanimate objects like trees, and their former bodies were impaled nearby. If one was violent against nature, blasphemers, sodomites, usurers, were left naked on burning sand with fire raining down on them. The 8th circle dwelled the fraudulent whose punishments ranged from being whipped, to being covered in excrement, to being forced to where lead mantles all depending on the type of fraud. The 9th circle of hell is where Satan resides, although he is stuck up to the waist in ice, is considered the center of the earth. This circle is reserved for traitors and betrayers. These sinners are frozen is progressively deeper ice depending on the type of betrayal, and what Dante considered the worst betrayers, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius are being chewed on by Satan himself.

(Botticelli)

Botticelli born in Florence, Italy in 1445 and died in 1510 was an Italian painter and is considered one of the greatest painters of the Florentine

Renaissance. His The birth of Venus and Primavera are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance. (Sandro)

Artist: Gustave Dore’

Title of Work: Satan

Date Completed: 1861

Medium: Engraving

Current Location: Unknown

According to Aida Audeh, Professor of art history at Hamline University,

“Doré's choice of Dante's Inferno as the first of his proposed series of illustrated masterpieces of literature reflects the extent to which Dante had attained popular appeal in France by the 1860s.”(Audeh) The 9th and final circle of hell, the very center of the earth, Dante and Virgil, Dante’s guide through hell, encounter Satan encased up to the waist in ice. As Satan beats his wings the icy winds created freezes him even more in polluted ice. In a parody of the Holy

Trinity, Satan has three faces, each a different color, and in each mouth he chews on a sinner to be eternally devoured. Judas Iscariot is in the central mouth, Brutus and Cassius, betrayers of Caesar, in the left and right mouths respectively.

The dictionary defines Engraving “as the art of forming designs by cutting, corrosion by acids, a photographic process, etc., on the surface of a metal plate, block of wood, or the like, for or as for the purpose of taking off impressions or prints of the design so formed.” Dore created about 120 engravings as a full series to accompany Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Dore found it hard to find a publisher to fund his folio edition of his illustrations/ engravings of the Divine Comedy, so he financed “Inferno”, the first book of the series, himself in 1861. This self-published version, which included the “Satan in Ice” image, was very successful and sold out quickly.

Dore’s illustrations have appeared in roughly 200 editions of the Divine

Comedy.

Dore’ born in 1832 in Strasbourg, France died in 1883, was a French printmaker, was considered one of the most prolific and successful book illustrators of the 19th century mostly because of his dreamlike fantasy scenes.

Considered among his finest works are the engravings of the Divine Comedy.

Works Cited

Audeh, Aida. "The World of Dante." The World of Dante. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

The quote from this site was about why Dore chose to do his engravings and the impact the Divine Comedy had on 19th century French culture.

"Botticelli (Sandro Filipepi): The Abyss of Hell." ArtBible.info. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

This article is where I found the information for the different circles of hell. Although brief it does have good info on Botticellis chart of hell.

"Gustave Dore | Biography - French Illustrator." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

This is where I found Biographical information on Gustave Dore.

"Heaven and Hell, According to Various Religions." Neatorama. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

This blog is where I found some information on religions views of hell. Some of the information I found to be inaccurate, but it was a nice start.

"Hieronymus Bosch | Flemish Painter." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

"Sandro Botticelli | Italian Painter." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Watt Cothren. "16th Century Art in Northern Europe." Art History. Fifth ed. Vol. 2. Pearson Education, 2014. 699. Print.

The 5th edition of Art History is an academic text for a diverse student audience. This text contains surveys of Art focusing mostly on European Art from the 14th century to modern art, as well as brief sections of non-western art during the same time period.

"Virgil | Roman Poet." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

This is reliable information on the roman poet Virgil, Dantes guide through Hell. Here is where I found his bibliography info.

"The Origins of Christian Hell." The Origins of Christian Hell. Web. 20 Aug. 2015. .

This published article from jstor is where I found the origins of Christian hell. This article was very informative in finding how the Christian hell was conceived in the beginning.