Art Institute of Chicago

A Glimpse into Hell, or Fear

Elihu Vedder (American, 1836–1923)

Date

1888–98

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

Rome

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Elihu Vedder probed questions of the mind in his paintings and illustrations, creating complex, visionary compositions often centered on literary or spiritual subject matter. The lunette A Glimpse into Hell, or Fear is drawn from 14th-century poet Dante Alighieri’s Inferno , the first part of his epic poem, Divine Comedy . Here, five females confront the gate of Hell. Beholding such a sight, they express apprehension and fear, accentuated by the swirling forms of their draperies and hair. Vedder focused on the figures’ psychological tension, rather than the spectacle of the environs itself, depicting only a sliver of fiery flames at bottom left.

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