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Provenance:
Philipp, Graf von Saint Genois, Vienna (before 1895); [Kominik, Prague, after 1895]; Frantisek Kominik, Prague (until 1926); [Hugo Feigl, Prague, 1926; sold to MMA]
From 1926 in possession of the Museum, with support of the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund.
Similar compositions as the painting in private possession of Mangilli Valmarana in Venice, See also Bergmans 1963, nr. 175 en Tolnay 1965, nr. 58.. Another similar composition can be seen in the Matthiesen Gallery in London 1928.
Bosch’s fiery hell scenes remained enormously popular throughout Europe in the sixteenth century. A vast, desolate landscape with a burning city at the right and the river Styx at the left is the setting for this nightmarish vision, in which Christ breaks down the gates of hell to rescue the souls of the just. Gesturing in supplication towards him, Adam and Eve kneel on top of a ruinous tower. Behind them, Old Testament figures climb the winding stairs from the depths of hell, among them Abraham and Isaac with the sacrificial ram, and Noah with a model of the ark.
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History:
Literature:
[Adolph Donath?]. "Der neuentdeckte Hieronymus Bosch." Kunstwanderer (May 1926), pp. 378–79, ill., publishes it as a work by Hieronymus Bosch. Max J. Friedländer. Die altniederländische Malerei. Vol. 5, Geertgen van Haarlem und Hieronymus Bosch. Berlin, 1927, p. 149, no. 88. Bryson Burroughs. "The Descent of Christ into Hell by Hieronymus Bosch." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 22 (November 1927), pp. 272–74, ill., as by Bosch, painted later than our Adoration of the Magi (acc. no. 13.26). Edouard Michel. Letter. September 12, 1935, considers it a little later than Hieronymus Bosch, deriving from the "Last Judgment" in Vienna. Charles de Tolnay. Hieronymus Bosch. Basel, 1937, p. 105, no. 58, lists it with disputed works of Bosch; dates it about 1540–50. Sam A. Lewisohn. Painters and Personality: A Collector's View of Modern Art. [New York], 1937, p. 185, pl. 85. Ludwig Baldass. Katalog der Gemäldegalerie. 2nd ed. Vienna, 1938, p. 21, under no. 652, suggests that this work and the Vienna "Descent into Hell" are by the same hand. Harry B. Wehle and Margaretta Salinger. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings. New York, 1947, pp. 123–24, ill. Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 11. Erik Larsen. Les primitifs flamands au Musée Metropolitain de New York. Utrecht, 1960, pp. 98–99. Simone Bergmans in Le Siècle de Bruegel: la peinture en Belgique au XVIe siècle. Exh. cat., Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Brussels, 1963, pp. 136–37, attributes a nearly identical version (private collection, Brussels; formerly Mangilli-Valmarana collection, Venice) to Gillis Mostaert (1528-60), observing that the figure of Diogenes holding the lantern does not appear in the north before 1559, when Vascosan published a French translation of Plutarch's Lives. Charles de Tolnay. Hieronymus Bosch. reprint of 1965 ed. [New York], 1966, p. 385, no. 58, pl. 54, lists it among disputed works; dates it about 1530–50. Max J. Friedländer et al. Early Netherlandish Painting. Vol. 5, Geertgen tot Sint Jans and Jerome Bosch. New York, 1969, p. 85, no. 88, pl. 74, gives it to Bosch. Nancy A. Corwin. "The Fire Landscape: Its Sources and Its Development from Bosch through Jan Brueghel I, with Special Emphasis on the Mid-Sixteenth Century Bosch "Revival"." PhD diss., University of Washington, Seattle, 1976, pp. 406–08, no. 144, pl. 173, calls it "Christ in Limbo" and ascribes it to a follower of Bosch; observes that although Gillis Mostaert is documented as having painted many versions of this subject, it does not resemble any known works of his. Gerd Unverfehrt. Hieronymus Bosch: Die Rezeption seiner Kunst im frühen 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1980, p. 289, no. 158, fig. 185. Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 264, ill. Véronique Sintobin in From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, pp. 36, 254–56, no. 64, ill. (color), dates it about 1550–60 and notes that a detail suggesting a date in the 1550s or later is the conspicuous sinking house in the form of a gigantic head, a motif that appears in Bruegel's drawing of the Temptation of Saint Anthony, dated 1559 (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford). Erik Larsen. Hieronymus Bosch. New York, 1998, p. 136, no. 41 [Italian ed., "Hieronymus Bosch: catalogo completo," Florence], agrees with Tolnay (1966) that the nudes are distinctly Italianizing, and states that it can therefore hardly date before 1530–50, considerably later than Bosch's death. Hélène Mund et al. The Mayer van den Bergh Museum, Antwerp. Brussels, 2003, p. 401 n. 25. Marc Rudolf de Vrij. Jheronimus Bosch: An Exercise in Common Sense. Hilversum, The Netherlands, 2012, p. 568, no. E.24, ill. (color), incorrectly refers to new technical data that would confirm its dating to later than the 1550s. Michel Weemans. Herri met de Bles: les ruses du paysage au temps de Bruegel et d'Érasme. Paris, 2013, p. 286, fig. 194 (color). Nils Büttner in Fälschung—Plagiat—Kopie: Künstlerische Praktiken in der Vormoderne. Ed. Birgit Ulrike Münch et al. Petersberg, 2014, p. 31, ill., suggests that a Hell painting, described by Karel van Mander in his "Schilder-Boek" of 1604 and mentioned as a work by Hieronymus Bosch, is The Met's painting; points out that Van Mander's description of Judas, who is planning to slip off with the Old Testament figures but is hauled up with a noose and hanged, might refer to the scenery at the foot of the right rock in this work. Felix Thürlemann. Letter to Linda Marie Müller. December 10, 2015, thinks it is a late work by Matthys Cock (active before 1548), and dates it about 1540; identifies the figure with the lantern as Zephaniah, opposing Bergmans's (1963) late dating of the picture based on the identification of the figure as Diogenes; suggests the "Temptation of Saint Anthony" in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is not the source for the head in this picture but a lost work of Bosch. Linda M. Müller in In Search of Utopia: Art and Science in the Era of Thomas More. Exh. cat., Museum Leuven. Amsterdam, 2016, pp. 254–57, no. 41, ill. (color, overall and detail) [Dutch ed., "Op zoek naar Utopia"]. Daan van Heesch in In Search of Utopia: Art and Science in the Era of Thomas More. Exh. cat., Museum Leuven. Amsterdam, 2016, p. 233 [Dutch ed., "Op zoek naar Utopia"]. Dawn Ades in Endless Enigma: Eight Centuries of Fantastic Art. Exh. cat., David Zwirner Gallery. New York, 2019, p. 25, fig. 14 (color).
Source:
Website 'wikimedia.org' and 'rkd.nl' - Kunstwerknr. 59978; Afb.nr. 0000111612;
