Scenes from the Passion of Christ: The Descent into Limbo [right panel]

Italienische Malerei 1360–1430, 1380s

A bearded man, Jesus, strides from under an archway across a wooden door that lies flat along the ground as it pins and crushes a black beast in this vertical, framed panel. A crowd of people huddle inside the rocky cave, and everyone has pale skin faintly tinged with green. Jesus wears a bright, gold-patterned cloth draped over one shoulder and around his body. He holds a tall pole with a flag with a red cross on a white field with his left hand. His other clasps hands with an elderly man with gray hair and long white beard. Behind the elder man, a crowd of men and women kneel in front of the opening of a craggy cave. One man holds a scroll with black letters that reads, “ECCE ANGIUS.” Another bearded man floats above holding a scroll that reads, “DESTRUXIT QUIDAM MORTES INFERNI ET SUBVERTIT POTENTIAS DIABOLI.” Above the scene, an architectural arch and tracery is created in low relief in gold against the gold-leaf background. The gold frame has inset bands of lapis blue with scrolling, leafy designs in gold above and below the central scene.
Artist
Italienische Malerei 1360–1430
Date
1380s
Type
Painting
Medium
tempera on panel
Dimensions
47.2 × 25 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

A bearded man, Jesus, strides from under an archway across a wooden door that lies flat along the ground as it pins and crushes a black beast in this vertical, framed panel. A crowd of people huddle inside the rocky cave, and everyone has pale skin faintly tinged with green. Jesus wears a bright, gold-patterned cloth draped over one shoulder and around his body. He holds a tall pole with a flag with a red cross on a white field with his left hand. His other clasps hands with an elderly man with gray hair and long white beard. Behind the elder man, a crowd of men and women kneel in front of the opening of a craggy cave. One man holds a scroll with black letters that reads, “ECCE ANGIUS.” Another bearded man floats above holding a scroll that reads, “DESTRUXIT QUIDAM MORTES INFERNI ET SUBVERTIT POTENTIAS DIABOLI.” Above the scene, an architectural arch and tracery is created in low relief in gold against the gold-leaf background. The gold frame has inset bands of lapis blue with scrolling, leafy designs in gold above and below the central scene.

Italienische Malerei 1360–1430