''Paradise and Hell'' is the left and right panels of a minor

diptych A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...

by a follower of

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on oa ...

based on ''

The Haywain Triptych The ''Haywain Triptych'' is a panel painting by Hieronymus Bosch, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain. A date of around 1516 has been established by means of dendrochronological research. The central panel, signed "Jheronimus Bosch", measu ...

''. The image is oil on panel and is 135 x 45 cm. It was painted c. 1510 and is now in the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Paradise is depicted darker than in the Haywain, which possibly represents the darkness of

original sin Original sin is the Christian doctrine that holds that humans, through the fact of birth, inherit a tainted nature in need of regeneration and a proclivity to sinful conduct. The biblical basis for the belief is generally found in Genesis 3 (t ...

Description

The left panel depicts Creation and the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden ( he, גַּן־עֵדֶן, ) or Garden of God (, and גַן־אֱלֹהִים ''gan-Elohim''), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the Bible, biblical paradise described in Book of Genesis, Genes ...

. It is loosely divided into sections, beginning at the top and ending at the bottom, while the right panel does not appear to follow any sequence of events. The left panel most likely corresponds with the Book of Genesis, and follows from the top, moving downward, and the right panel possibly corresponds with the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

. At the top of the left panel,

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

sits enthroned in

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

while the world is created.

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

s toss the

fallen angel In the Abrahamic religions, fallen angels are angels who were expelled from heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" never appears in any Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven"Mehdi Azaiez, Gabriel Said R ...

s out of the Heaven. While the fallen angels are thrown out of Heaven, they turn to insects. Moving downward, in the next 'section', a scene is shown where God has created

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

and is introducing her to

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

. In the third 'section', the

serpent Serpent or The Serpent may refer to: * Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes Mythology and religion * Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature * Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts * Serp ...

offers Adam and Eve a fruit from the

Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil In Judaism and Christianity, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ( he, עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע, ʿêṣ had-daʿaṯ ṭōḇ wā-rāʿ, label=Tiberian Hebrew, ) is one of two specific trees in the story of the Garden ...

, and Adam is reaching out to take it. At the bottom of the panel, an angel expels Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, thus marking the Fall of Man, and the two become ashamed of their nakedness. The right panel depicts the consequences of Adam and Eve's choice, in which a vision of hell is shown. A burning building can be seen in the background, and in the foreground, there appear to be several demons constructing a fortress or castle. To the lower left, a man is being directed towards a castle by two mutated animals. Just in front of the portcullis is a man riding a cow, being pierced by a sword or spear. At the bottom right, a man is running while being attacked by demonic creatures, while to the lower left a man is being devoured by a large human-legged fish.

References

*Pioch, Nicolas
"Bosch, Hieronymus: ''Paradise and Hell''"
''WebMuseum''. October 14, 2002. Retrieved January 1, 2008 Paintings by Hieronymus Bosch in the Museo del Prado Cultural depictions of Adam and Eve Triptychs Hell in popular culture Angels in art Cattle in art Insects in art Snakes in art {{16C-painting-stub