Descent into Hell
- Subject
- Late Gothic retable depicting scenes from the lives of Mary and Jesus
- Author, school, workshop
- Wit Stwosz (ca. 1448-1533)
- Contributor
- -
- Style
- Late Gothic
- Date
- 1477-1489
- Type
- Altarpiece in the form of a pentaptych
- Material and technique
- Wood/carving, gilding, polychrome
- Size
- 2,5 × 2,3 m
- Signatures and inscriptions
- -
- Identity number
- -
- Department
- -
- Links/analogies
- -
- Owner
- Saint Mary's Basilica in Krakow
- Copyright
- Saint Mary's Basilica in Krakow
- Location
- Saint Mary's altar (by Wit Stwosz) in the presbytery
- Description
- According to the strict logic of the sequence of the quatrefoils, the Descent into Hell must be seen at the end after the scenes attesting to the Resurrection. Such a reading is obviously at odds with the order of the Gospel narrative! The key to understanding this strange 'leap' is again the dramatisations of the Easter liturgy. The descent into the abyss was often played out at the end, concluding the entire cycle of Easter celebrations. Theatrical - though in a slightly different sense - is the representation of hell itself. The fallen angels, which seem rather insipid on the pages of medieval treatises, surprise in the altar of St Mary's with their unusual hybrid forms and rainbow colours. But they are still more curious than frightening.
