Vision of Hell

This miniature represents of Hell in accordance with the image fixed by medieval Catholicism: it illustrates The City of God, a work that shaped Christian thought by St. Augustine (5th century), who in his Volume 21 encourages a literal interpretation of the biblical verses evoking Gehenna or eternal fire. In a barren and flame-filled setting, the innumerable damned watch as their own bodies are chastised by hybrid demons, horned or reptilian animals. In the centre sits a cauldron and, presiding over it, a crowned cannibal-demon. Its double mouth — the belly being endowed with a life of its own — and its limbs devouring themselves: everything speaks of insatiable hunger and infinite torment.