Lot Essay
In Inferno, painted at the height of his 'social' career, Franz von Stuck repeats a resemblance of Die Sünde in the female figure on the right. Von Stuck used the theme of sin, personified by a woman embraced by a snake, several times after his first version executed circa 1891-2. Here the woman does not carry the snake as a seductive attribute, resting on her voluptuous body as in Die Sünde; rather, she wrestles with it as did the Priest Laokoon in the famous sculpture group, who tries in vain to escape from the strangling python (personifying evil), while a man below is being crushed by the weight of it. Von Stuck adopted the theme of the snake several times in his paintings throughout his career, and also as a decorative element in his Villa Stuck.
Von Stuck was probably inspired by Rodin's le Penseur, and the figures on top of his Gates of Hell. Rodin was inspired by Dante's (1265-1321) vision of Hell, while Von Stuck looked purely at the work of the former and depicted the meaning of hell in a composition of the basic elements; the relationships of the genders standing for hell, the woman for guilt, and man the victim. Naturally, the woman with the snake represents Eve first and foremost, the cause of all sins, and the man consequently Adam (see lot 68). This is another comparison with Gates of Hell which Rodin frames with the monumental statues of Adam and Eve.
According to 19th Century philosophers, such as Arthur Schopenauer (1788-1860) and Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-55), the fall of man is perpetuated through the continuing sexual relationships between the genders, casting a shadow on any connection between man and woman and on any joy of life.
Unlike in Lucifer (painted circa 1890), his earlier rendition of the theme of Hell embodied in the resentful figure of Lucifer, the figures in Inferno are not demonic but healthy and muscular, their physical appearance being in sharp contrast to their pose.
As did many late 19th Century artists, von Stuck made use of the new medium of photography. He would take pictures of his models and study the movements and muscles to capture them on a two dimensional surface. In the rendering of these bodies his capabilities as a sculptor are also evident.
Seven drawings are recorded for the individual figures in Inferno and three studies in tempera (see Voss, op. cit., pp. 293-4.).
Von Stuck was probably inspired by Rodin's le Penseur, and the figures on top of his Gates of Hell. Rodin was inspired by Dante's (1265-1321) vision of Hell, while Von Stuck looked purely at the work of the former and depicted the meaning of hell in a composition of the basic elements; the relationships of the genders standing for hell, the woman for guilt, and man the victim. Naturally, the woman with the snake represents Eve first and foremost, the cause of all sins, and the man consequently Adam (see lot 68). This is another comparison with Gates of Hell which Rodin frames with the monumental statues of Adam and Eve.
According to 19th Century philosophers, such as Arthur Schopenauer (1788-1860) and Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-55), the fall of man is perpetuated through the continuing sexual relationships between the genders, casting a shadow on any connection between man and woman and on any joy of life.
Unlike in Lucifer (painted circa 1890), his earlier rendition of the theme of Hell embodied in the resentful figure of Lucifer, the figures in Inferno are not demonic but healthy and muscular, their physical appearance being in sharp contrast to their pose.
As did many late 19th Century artists, von Stuck made use of the new medium of photography. He would take pictures of his models and study the movements and muscles to capture them on a two dimensional surface. In the rendering of these bodies his capabilities as a sculptor are also evident.
Seven drawings are recorded for the individual figures in Inferno and three studies in tempera (see Voss, op. cit., pp. 293-4.).