The spectacles of the hell in late medieval in Italy
Eunkie Lee (Professor, Mokwon University)
In the image ...
The spectacles of the hell in late medieval in Italy
Eunkie Lee (Professor, Mokwon University)
In the images of Last Judgement in the 14th Century Italy, the orderly paradise and the chaotic hell are well contrasted. The interesting point is that the paradise is unachievable ideal world, whereas the hell is fulfilled with real life scenes. In the middle of the 14th Century there is a paint that represents the hell of the Divine Comedy of Dante and are 7 capital sins painted in a very systematic way. In this paper I will examine and compare those types of hell images and think about the use and effect of them.
In the hell image of the Scrovegni Chapel commissioned by the businessman Enrico Scrovegni, we can see many sinners with a money bag and clergymen; the usurer, the simony of the cardinal and the monk with carnal desire. In the hell of the Scrovegni Chapel, while the moral sinner 'Gluttony' or 'Sloth' is not covered, the social evils of that era, 'Avarice', 'Envy' and simony are covered very often. In certain sense, under the form of the Judgement of God, in fact, it warns and accuses the social evils in reality.
The hell scene of the Strozzi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella in Florence reflects the hell of Dante's Divine Comedy. The most different fact with Giotto's hell is the composition in which it categorizes the sinners based on their names of crime like Dante's hell. And the names of crime are written at the bottom of each division. The spectacle of the hell beginning from the top reflects the Dante's hell which is described from the third song to the 34th song all through the bottom. But it is not the accurate illustration of it. Most of all Dante's hell have a construction with a top large circle of upside and gradually narrower circles of down side, but Strozzi Chapel's hell has a flat composition.
In the hell of the Camposanto in Pisa, there are represented 7 Capital Sins of Catholic constructed in a systematic way; Vanity, Avarice, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy and Sloth. Let's compare the Camposanto's hell with Scrovegni's. Most of all Scrovegni's hell occupies 1/5 of the Last Judgement. On the other hand, Camposanto's hell scene is almost equal with the Last Judgement. In the composition, the former is painted as one chaotic space, the latter is systematically divided into 7 divisions based on the names of the sins. In terms of the types of the sins, the former covers the social sins like simony, lust and usurer, On the contrary, the latter deals with the moral 7 Capital Sins. The ways of representation have bigger difference. The former presents like 'this is the criminal' by the scene with the commitment of criminal, the latter focuses on showing severeness of the punishment in the hell, and the names of the sins are written. The former has a message like 'This is the sin that obstructs the social justice.' On the other hand, the latter instructs menacingly 'If you commit this criminal, you will be punished like this in the hell'.
Then why does the society of the 14th Century need this kind of hell of fear with the names of the sins. Jerome Bascet who interpreted the hell in the concept of cultural history, insisted that through the hell "The Church controlled power of death that only God can have in the earth." The church makes people feel guilty on the one hand and gives the indulgence to the repenter. It is a kind of power mechanism that messes with the viewers. The images of the hell threaten the beholder and make them latent sinners. By seeing the hell images they memorize 'what is my sin', and prepare 'What I have to confess.' Therefore, the hell images are not only the discussion of fear, but also the discussion of confession. Images took a role of media which makes a great effect.