Going to Hell in Style | ||||||
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Going to Hell was a popular topic in the arts of the Middle Ages. It was often rendered with far more attention to detail and inspiration than going to heaven; always necessary for reasons of artistic (and moral) symmetry. Eternal damnation might be painful but certainly less boring than eternal bliss. | |||||
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Here is going to hell in a picture found in a church in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany | |||||
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Sculptures on the "Fürstenportal" of the Bamberg
Cathedral; 13th century. The damned have not yet realized where they are going. | |||||
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These guys in the Roskilde (Denmark) cathedral are probably enjoying a rest (having some fruit) on the way down. | |||||
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Cologne (Köln) has a lot of medieval art in museums and churches,
including supreme going-to-hell pictures. The first one shows parts of Stefan Lochner's (1400/1410 - 1451) "The day of reckoning from around 1435. | |||||
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| The details are remarkable. Here are some members of the clergy, including bishops and other dignitaries, who rate a particular ugly devil: | ||||||
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| Not everybodies fate is alreday decided. Below we see a fight between the airforces of the
two powers over a particularly shapely soul. It's not yet clear who will be the winner. |
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The lady below knows where she is going and doesn't enjoy it. Fragment of "The Damned" from Colijn de Coter, 1500 - 1510. | |||||
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Here we have part of the Hiob story painted by sone unknown guy around
1470. Hiob is not going to hell here. What we see, and what makes this picure remarkable, is that young devils need to go to school, too. Here they are obviously on an outing to learn how prober flogging is done. The teacher explains that the movement shoud come from the shoulder and not from the wrist. | |||||
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Nowadays time is money and painting an old-fashioned picture takes
a lot of time. So we use photography instead and make one picture fit it all. Heaven or hell; it's up to you: |
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© H. Föll (Iron, Steel and Swords script)
With frame
9.1.2 Problems with Alloying