A Glimpse into Hell, or Fear

1888·Oil on canvas·40 × 52.4 cm (15 3/4 × 20 5/8 in.)

Elihu Vedder probed questions of the mind in his paintings and illustrations, creating complex, visionary compositions often centered on literary or spiritual subject matter. The lunette A Glimpse into Hell, or Fear is drawn from 14th-century poet Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, the first part of his epic poem, Divine Comedy. Here, five females confront the gate of Hell. Beholding such a sight, they express apprehension and fear, accentuated by the swirling forms of their draperies and hair. Vedder focused on the figures’ psychological tension, rather than the spectacle of the environs itself, depicting only a sliver of fiery flames at bottom left.

Catalogue

Year: 1888
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 40 × 52.4 cm (15 3/4 × 20 5/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Elihu Vedder

Artist

Elihu Vedder

Painting

Elihu Vedder was an American painter and illustrator known for symbolic and allegorical compositions often populated by classical and mythological figures. Active across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he worked in oil and watercolor, developing a distinctive aesthetic that merged Academic training with decorative sensibility. His murals and book illustrations, particularly for editions of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, established him as a major figure in American Symbolism. Vedder spent significant periods in Italy, where his engagement with Renaissance tradition and classical subject matter deepened. His work balanced narrative complexity with formal elegance, influencing American decorative arts into the early twentieth century.

New York, NY, USA

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