Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburgh

After Paul Rumsey mentioned this artist I went hunting for more of his works. I found the above painting of hell in a book of Fantastic Art that I've had since childhood. So I've been familiar with this artist longer than I realized. The following 3 paintings were all that I was able to gather from the internet, apart from the other painting below that I'd mistaken for the work of Jan Brueghel. You'll be able to see the above work in far greater detail than the rest. If anyone can point me in the direction of more paintings by Swanenburgh, or larger examples of those posted below, I'd really appreciate it.
Hell, oil on copper.


Temptation of Saint Anthony, oil on wood.


Witches Sabbath In Roman Palace Ruins, 1608. Notice the large bird headed skeleton creature the witches are riding on at the bottom left corner of the painting.

David Teniers The Younger / Vivant Denon - Sorceress
This work was made by Dominique Vivant-Denon after David Teniers the Younger.

Jan Brueghel In The Underworld




Aenaes and the Sybil in Hades

Below is a small example of Orpheus in the Underworld, Oil on copper, 1594. Unfortunately this is the largest example I've been able to find of this painting online. This smaller copy has more detail but neither do the painting any kind of justice. If anyone has links to where I can find a larger example of this or the other couple of Brueghel paintings of the Underworld, please share!




"Brueghel's extraordinary visions of the underworld are among his most famous works. Despite their widespread reputation, he produced only a limited number of such works, all of which were painted in his early years between 1594 and 1604. They fall roughly into two groups: those such as the present work with mythological subjects such as the stories of Aeneas, Juno and Orpheus, in which the depiction of the infernal landscape is the dominant motif, and those with subjects such as the Temptation of St Anthony or Lot and his daughters, which are placed in more traditional nocturnal landscape settings." - quote from here.

And to clear up any confusion about just which Brueghel this post is about, you can see the family tree of artists here.

Also as pointed out by Paul Rumsey, the following painting "Charon crossing the Styx" is actually by Jacob Isaacsz van Swanenburgh. I'm going to have to investigate this artist further as the painting is incredible. Thanks for the heads up, Paul. The gaping mouth of hell motif seen in this work is something I'm going to devote a post towards in the not too distant future.


details of the above painting..

More Kirby Monsters!




The Datajunkie blog has a great selection of monster oriented Jack Kirby comics available, check it out here and here.

More Soehnée









The above artworks are watercolors by the previously mentioned Charles-Frédéric Soehnée. All images were made available thanks to Mr H of the incredible Giornale Nuovo. Be sure to explore the original post on this artist at Giornale Nuovo.