The Abyss of Hell - Botticelli

I think that this is my favorite Botticelli painting that I have seen. I love it because there are so many small details, which is no wonder that it took him like 10 years. It is kind of hard to see all the details, but there are so many people, so many little interactions that are just so beautiful. 

This is also so fascinating, since this was perception of hell in the late 1400s. Now in the media, hell is shown as always being overflowing with lava and everything being on fire. There are fire and flames in this as well, but there is also so much more which I think is really interesting.

Looking at details in this painting, one thing that i love is the facial expressions as well. There is one close up especially that shows those being punished by being stuck in muddy water and pushing boulders for eternity. Demons also seem to be mocking and torturing them as well, while people in rich clothing watch them. There is such anguish in the painting, their bodies are twisting to get away from the demons, while those in the muddy waters are squirming to get out of it, but seem to be stuck. Its freighting, and I can see why many are so afraid of hell.

I know that this painting is based on the Dante poem, and I actually bought it quite a while ago, but I have not had the chance to read it..... hopefully I will get around to it in the next month or so. I bought it since I really wanted to read the poem, that was so influencal in how many people saw hell for years. Maybe I will write a blog in the near future.. but we will see. 

Oh also, one of the Medici family actually commissioned this. And i think I just made note of that because they also commissioned one of my favorite statues, David by Michelangelo. It seemed like when commissioning art, they gave a lot of liberties to the actual artist, unless this was just a two time thing, which I think gave the artist liberty to make such beautiful work.

Okay, not sure if this makes a lot of sense, but I was thinking about this painting and I felt like I needed to ramble about it cause I love it, and its locked away in the vatican.