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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

BRONZINO, "Christo in Limbo", Santa Croce, Firenze

Speranza




The topography of Hell became increasingly complex throughout the Renaissance.

Different areas of Hell were designated for different kinds of folk, including the just, the demonic and the youthful.

In this large altarpiece of Christ in Limbo painted in 1552 by the Italian Mannerist artist Agnolo Bronzino for the Church of Santa Croce, Florence, the demons (1 in the diagram) peer over a wall or mountain that separates the Limbo of the just from the grizzlier Hell of the damned.

Limbo itself is also presented as having two levels: Those on the lower level (bottom left of the painting) have not yet been redeemed, and reach for (or look longingly at) the Savior (2), who has come to liberate them; those on the upper level have already been freed.

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