According to apocryphal texts, Christ visited Limbo after his death on the cross to redeem Adam and the righteous. This story offered artists throughout the centuries the opportunity to confront good and evil. This remarkable episode also fascinated Ensor. The motif of Christ descending into hell inspired the artist here to create a whimsical tessellation with grotesque heads, between which twisting flames rise. In the midst of this inferno, Christ floats in a long robe. The print is a simplified version of the drawing of the same name from 1891 (private collection). Ensor used the same theme in the print "The devils Dzitts and Hihanox lead Christ to hell", as well as the print "Christ descends into hell", also created in 1895 (inv. 1998-B-90).
| Artist |
James Ensor
RKD
VIAF
Wikidata
|
|---|---|
| Title | Christ Descending to Hell |
| Date | 1895 |
| Period | 19th century |
| Medium and support | etching AAT |
| Signatures, inscriptions, and markings | signature and year top right: J.Enso95 [sic] |
| signature and year bottom right: James Ensor 1895 | |
| inscription top left: 15 | |
| inscription on the reverse: AT | |
| title on the reverse: Le christ descendant aux enfers | |
| inscription on the reverse: 24 / LD 103 | |
| Collection | print room |
| Object type | etching AAT |
| Inventory number | 1998-B-103 |
| Acquisition credit |
purchase
Taevernier, Auguste (coll.) 1998 |
| Current whereabouts | Work currently not on display |
| Permalink | https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1998-B-103 |
| IIIF Manifest | https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/4140/manifest.json |
| Art & Architecture Thesaurus |
300055874
religious symbolism
AAT
300056485 fantastic art AAT |
|---|---|
| Keywords Iconclass |
11D
Christ
Iconclass
11L541414 Hell (as one of the Four Last Things) Iconclass 11T hell and purgatory Iconclass 11T2(+4) symbols of hell (+ devil(s)) Iconclass 11T5 the damned souls, and their punishment Iconclass 21C fire (one of the four elements) Iconclass 25F9 mis-shapen animals; monsters Iconclass 41B162 smoke Iconclass 73 New Testament Iconclass 73D9 Christ in the underworld, harrowing of hell, Christ in Limbo, 'descensus ad inferos', 'Anastasis' Iconclass |
| School / Style |
phantasy
satire (artistic device) AAT historicism (theory) AAT |
| Henri Leys, Henri de Braekeleer, James Ensor / Loys Delteil. - Paris : Chez l'Auteur, 1925 (nr. 103) |
| James Ensor : Catalogue illustré de ses gravures ; Leur description critique et l'inventaire des plaques = Geïllustreerde catalogus van zijn gravures ; Hun kritische beschrijving en inventaris van de platen = Illustrated catalogue of his engravings ; Their critical description and inventary of the plates / Auguste Taevernier. - Ledeberg (Gent) : Erasmus Boekhandel bv Amsterdam, 1973 (nr. 103) |
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