Gallery 396, European Art 1500-1850, third floor
Main Building
Gallery 396, European Art 1500-1850, third floor
Main Building
Making use of wax’s uncanny resemblance to flesh, Giovanni Bernardino Azzolini created a trio of sculptures that viscerally illustrate the states of the soul after death: Paradise, Purgatory, and Hell. Their vivid imagery, designed to inspire contemplation of mortality, is drawn directly from popular prints by the German artist Alexander Mair and Dutch artist Egbert van Panderen.
The soul in Purgatory sobs and weeps tears of blood, conveying an intense remorse that suggests he may one day, like the tiny figures in the background, ascend to heaven.
Gallery 396, European Art 1500-1850, third floor
Title: | Purgatory |
Date: | Early 17th century |
Artist: | Giovanni Bernardino Azzolini (Italian, c. 1560–1645) |
Medium: | Polychrome wax with paint mounted on a striped fabric textile with a twisted cord on slate in a wood frame |
Dimensions: | Including frame: 6 5/16 × 5 1/2 × 2 1/2 inches (16.1 × 14 × 6.3 cm) |
Classification: | Sculpture |
Credit Line: | Gift of Dr. Donald and Rosalind Nathanson, 2021 |
Accession Number: | 2021-57-2 |
Geography: | Made in Italy, Europe |
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Gallery 396, European Art 1500-1850, third floor
Main Building