Descent into hell

Girolamo da Treviso the Younger's Descent into Hell — the Harrowing of Hell — dated 1521 and held in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, depicts the apocryphal episode in which the risen Christ descended to the realm of the dead to liberate the souls of the righteous who had died before his coming. This belief, embedded in the Apostles' Creed, generated a powerful iconographic tradition allowing painters to combine the triumphant risen Christ with a vast crowd of redeemed figures including Adam and Eve, the patriarchs, and Old Testament prophets. The subject's combination of supernatural drama and collective human liberation gave it particular force in the Reformation era.

The Harrowing composition typically shows Christ in radiant glory entering the mouth of Hell while liberated souls stream toward him. The lighting contrast between divine radiance and hellish darkness is the primary compositional challenge, handled with dramatic force.