Hell Scene
Object type | Painting |
Genre | Religious |
Date | ca. 1595 |
Dimensions | 25 x 35 cm |
Support | Copper |
Medium | Oil |
Collectors/patrons | Federico Borromeo |
Our attribution | Jan Brueghel the Elder |
Other authorities | Ertz 2008-10, #323 Ertz 1979, #9 |
Location | Milan, Italy |
Collection | Ambrosiana |
Accession numbers | inv. #74/15 |
Tags | Bridge, Ruins, Borromeo, Fire, River, Nude, Demons, Hell/Underworld, New Testament |
Ertz lists an autograph replica of this painting in his 2008-10 catalogue, #324. Another Hell scene of roughly the same size (27 x 36) on copper was sold in Paris (Charpentier, March 24 1953, #8). Judging from the poor reproduction available it seems to have been close to a Jan Brueghel if not an autograph work. If it is genuine, either it or the replica of Borromeo’s painting could have been the Hell scene owned by Benedetto Giustiniani: see Silvia Danesi Squarzina, “The Collection of Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani. Part I” The Burlington Magazine 139/1136 (Nov. 1997), 771.