Reoccurring Themes In Medieval Art

Some artists have traditionally been restricted in fully expressing creative ideas in their art because of commissioners demanding certain works, social pressures, and conflicting cultural ideas restraining inventiveness. Popular medieval paintings and prints were produced in a time period when religion was incredibly prominent, therefore, artists often created images of an idealized heaven, but also had opportunities to dabble with more rewarding, expressive subjects, such as hell and the devil. As one identifies different paintings that illustrate scenes of hell, reoccurring themes appear and a main question rises: how is hell and its punishments being visualized for people around the 15th and 16th century and how is this visualization accepted …show more content…
Their individual methodologies in doing this vary. To begin, it is notable that Bosch’s paintings became popular because they were sought out by members of the aristocracy. He catered to their desires and made scenes that did not focus on being religiously exact. In order to do this, Bosch was tasked with creating the unimaginable: a hell that was so terrifying that one must individually experience it through only looking at a picture. Hybrid creatures are pieced together almost seamlessly, which gives them human characteristics that do not appear in religious venues, and thus proved “deeply offensive to medieval moralists”. These creatures were so captivating and shocking that many moralists found the painting improper because one could simply study the monsters for hours without focusing on God and the idea that the Law of God rules over all. Even the images of Christ and God in Fig. 1 take up smaller sections of space and are far away from the viewer’s eye level, forcing the observer to squint at a tall painting, whereas monstrosities infiltrate other areas profusely. Bosch’s interpretation of hell was the first to “let loose hell-fire…not merely in hell, but across the surface of the world”, thereby breaching the border between man, beast, devil, and God with no clear control by the heavens and serving as a turning point for hell scenes in the time period. Bruegel also adopted some of these styles that Bosch mastered but altered them to fit his ideas. He gave his audience what they wanted to see in order to reap similar “financial rewards of commercial success”, however, his visions were less traumatic and more realistic, which increased the impact of his images on the audience. Fig. 2 aligned more with the church’s idealized version of hell. The painting was less frightening but still relied on