vince’s ear

Fiery Pit of the Damned

On the mystical island of the ABC series Lost, one of the characters raises the question that the survivors of the plane crash were indeed not survivors at all but have found themselves in hell. “A little hot for heaven, isn’t it?” asks one to the other after it was clear he didn’t get his meaning at first. If it were me, however, the idea of a tropical island for the rest of eternity doesn’t sound half bad.

The ability to ponder our existence is what sets us apart from our close primate relatives. Some of us may smell just as bad as chimps and are almost as hairy, but to question the meaning of life is truly a human capability. For as long as we have had this ability, we have gazed into the heavens and questioned our place in the cosmos, and wondered “Why are we here,” and “What in the hell happens to us when we die?”

Of course, regardless of our religious and spiritual beliefs, we can only make guesses in this lifetime. But leave it to our amazing imaginations and fears to conjure up all kinds of mythical fairy tales, as well as cautionary tales, of what could be waiting for us on the other side. And unless you can bring 2 million SPF sunblock, you’d better not mind roasting a bit if you haven’t lived your life minding your Christian P’s and Q’s. And roasting is only the start of it- then you have harpies, demons, and other hellions ready to have their torturous way with you. Sounds like fun.

With as entertaining an idea like this, it is no surprise that the subject of Hell has been a favorite one amongst artists throughout history, religious or secular.

Hieronymus Bosch and The Garden of Earthly Delights

One of the foremost painters of Hell who comes to mind is the Netherlandish painter Hieronymus Bosch. In his Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch uses a triptych to portray the Creation on the left, the world partaking in Earthly sin in the center, and the ultimate demise of mankind on the right: Hell. His hell is a unique and gruesome one, filled with demons sodomizing victims with musical instruments, bird/human hybrids eating people only to defecate them into a pit, and hellions taking a break in a saloon made out of the gut of a giant tree man. This is not my type of tourist destination. Joseph Bonaparte in Goya’s Ghosts, while examining the panels, “This is not my type of garden, and certainly not my idea of ‘delights.’”

The River of Styx by Joachim Patinir

Part of the mythology of Hell is that the damned are ferried over the River Styx to Hell by a character called Charon. Charon is shown by Michelangelo in the Last Judgment as arriving at the mouth of hell and forcing his passengers off in a non-negotiable and frightening way. Here Joachim Patinir portrays Charon in a wide-angled landscape with both the land of the living and the land of the doomed visible. You can barely see an unfortunate soul cowering and looking up at his devilish escort.

Dante’s Inferno

Probably the most important and well known pieces of literature on Hell is the Divine Comedy by Italian poet Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy is broken down into three parts- Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Hell is separated into nine circles leading to the center of Earth where Satan is. Each circle is worse with sinners and their appropriate punishments. Above is Dante and His Poem, by Domenico di Michelino, which shows the poet in front of the gates to Hell.

Seen above is The Barque of Dante by Eugène Delacroix.

Above is quite possibly the darkest and most disturbing paintings by an artist who usually painted pretty girls and angels. It is Dante and Virgil in Hell, by William Adolphe Bougeureau and shows Dante with his guide, the Roman poet Virgil, as they witness some demon’s punishment of the damned.

The Last Judgment

What better place to warn the impending doom of sinners than on the back wall of the most important chapel in Rome? Some years after he painted the ceiling, Michelangelo painted the Last Judgment in the Sistene Chapel. This was the subject of heated debate amongst the cardinals who called the fresco obscene and immoral on account of the naked flesh. One of the painting’s fiercest critics begged the pope to let him tear it down, calling it worthy of bathhouses, and not the Sistene. In response Michelangelo painted the cardinal’s image as Minos, judge of the underworld. When the cardinal complained, the Pope replied that his jurisdiction did not reach Hell, therefore he could do nothing but allow the portrait to remain.

The Prince of Darkness

No article on Hell would be complete without showcasing the star of the show, the Fallen Angel, the Serpent, the Beast, Lucifer, Satan, Great Red Dragon, the Devil. He is a trickster, some say, convincing the world he does not exist. It lies, it coerces, it endlessly wars with Good, Heaven, and God. Artists have rendered the Beast in numerous ways, usually showing it with horns, scales, and red flesh. Above are the Great Red Dragon watercolor paintings by William Blake.

This is Saint Wolfgang and the Devil by Michael Pacher, showing not so much of a monstrous beast but as a slithering and frail Satan, who can be beaten by the strong will of a saint.

Here Michelangelo portrays the devil as a serpent in the garden of Eden on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel.

Hell on Earth

No one says hell is confined to the afterlife, as Bruegel points out in Triumph of Death.

All of these show a wide variety of the Devil and the fiery afterlife which can only come from our imaginations creating myths and legends as any other tale has been developed. Of course, it being almost May, the summer heat here is humid Pennsylvania would lead to believe that the idea of hell is not that far fetched.

See also The 10 Scariest Paintings