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Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx
Joachim Patinir · Renaissance & Mannerism
- Artist
- Joachim Patinir (c. 1480–1524)
- Date
- c. 1515–1524
- Dimensions
- 64 x 103 cm
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Location
- Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
This painting shows Charon, the ferryman of Greek myth, rowing a soul across the river Styx in a small boat. On each bank lies a different destiny: paradise on the left, hell on the right.
A closer look
The broad river divides the picture in two. On the left, a bright, flowering land with angels and crystal towers represents heaven; an angel beckons the soul from the bank. On the right, a dark landscape with burning ruins and the three-headed dog Cerberus guarding the gate leads to hell. The soul in the boat turns its head towards hell, perhaps showing that it has chosen wrongly. Patinir combined classical myth with Christian ideas of salvation, and the vast landscape seen from above is as much the subject as the story.