Flemish school, follower of David Teniers (1610-1690): The rich man being led to hell, oil on canvas, ca. 1700

Work: 65 x 49 cm 
Frame: 92 x 76,5 cm

Ref.:
- This composition taken from 'The Rich man being led to hell' by David Teniers, nowadays - and since 1871 - part of the collection of The National Gallery, London: 'the fires of hell light up Teniers’s cave-like underworld with an eerie glow. An old man stands, hands raised in self-defence, his eyes wide with fear at the sight of the horrors around him. Weird creatures gather in glee to welcome another soul into the dreadful place that his greed and avarice have led him to. The story – a parable that Christ told his disciples about the evil of gathering wealth without doing charitable deeds – comes from the Gospel of Luke. This picture shows the fate of the rich man who rejected the beggar Lazarus in his last hours: while Lazarus was carried to heaven, the rich man went to hell as a punishment. Flanders was a Catholic country and the idea of hell was very real, but sinners could receive forgiveness for their trespasses. This is a picture meant as a moral message, but perhaps with a light tone'. (link)