The Virgin with Child
Sculpture
We use cookies to provide you with the best possible service and a user-friendly website.
Please find our Privacy Policy on data protection and data management here
Please find more information on the cookies here
Mountain of Hell
| Artist | |
|---|---|
| Date | 1550–1560 |
| Object type | sculpture |
| Medium, technique | bronze with black patina |
| Dimensions | 26.5 × 26.5 × 24 cm, 5.5 kg |
| Inventory number | 84.1 |
| Collection | Sculpture |
| On view | This artwork can be displayed at the permanent exhibition |
This small bronze was once used as the lid of a perfume burner, so on its smokey and dark interior cover the outlet holes can still be seen. Currently, five versions are known, and they are attributed to the Paduan sculptor and bronze caster Agostino Zoppo. After Zoppo’s death, four similar small bronzes were recorded in an inventory of his workshop. The statuette depicts a story known from antique
sources: Alcestis, a Greek princess who chose death in order to save her husband, but whom Heracles rescued from the underworld. The mountain above them was populated by the inhabitants of the underworld: the Erinyes, deities of vengeance, Hades, god of the underworld, and Cerberus, a threeheaded dog guarding the Gates of Hell.