3-042-470 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The House of Phristinus; Les Visions du chevalier Tondal, 1475. Additional Info: Traveling through darkness, the angel and the soul of Tondal arrive at an oven-shaped building as tall as a mountain. As fire spews forth from an opening in this structure, devils skewer all who come within reach, dismembering them and casting them into the fire. Again the soul of Tondal is told that if he does not change his ways, he will suffer for his sins. He hears the crying and moaning of innumerable souls who are racked by insatiable hunger and whose genitals are rotten with worms. As in the rest of the story, the punishment meted out to the gluttons and fornicators in this portion of hell is cleverly tailored to the individual sins. The artist used color to distinguish the calm radiance of the angel, in a blue gown with gold highlights, from the demon executioners, who are barely distinguishable from their dark and fiery world.