Who painted The Abyss of Hell?

Sandro Botticelli painted The Abyss of Hell in 1485.

What Bible passage does The Abyss of Hell depict?

The Abyss of Hell depicts the biblical scene from Revelation 20:11-15.

Where is The Abyss of Hell located?

The Abyss of Hell is housed at Biblioteca Apostolica.

The Abyss of Hell by Sandro Botticelli

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The Abyss of Hell is one of the most famous artworks from Botticelli's Divine Comedy series of sketches.

This artist took the rare step of choosing to provide illustrations for a manuscript, something famous artists at that time would consider beneath them. He would produce nearly on hundred drawings to accompany the "poems" of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Each work was labelled a Canto, which in Italian translates as an individual song. Within the manuscript each drawing would sit alongside the relevant article in a double page spread.

It was this series of work which helped to raise the artist's profile as a draughtsman, having already established his name within the painting medium. The vast majority of his remaining drawings are from this series, with just a few study sketches for final frescos left.

The Abyss of Hell by Sandro Botticelli is essentially a map of the various depths of Hell leading up to Earth. Dante described it as a cave, created when Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven by God. It is beautiful to see classic literature visually represented by one of the finest Renaissance artists, but sadly this was a rare event.

Details

Artist: Sandro Botticelli
Created: c. 1485
Medium: pen and brush on vellum
Dimension: 47cm × 32cm
Passage: Revelation 20:11-15
Housed at: Biblioteca Apostolica

Found in: Revelation, Revelation 20, 15th century, Hell

Revelation 20:11-15

11 I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.

12 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.

14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

15 If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:11-15 · World English Bible

The artist

Sandro Botticelli

1445 - 1510

Florence, Italy

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, known as Sandro Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. He belonged to the Florentine School under the patronage of Lorenzo de' Medici, a movement that Giorgio Vasari would characterize less than a hundred years later in his Vita of Botticelli as a "golden age". Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 19th century; since then, his work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting.