Exploring the Riches of Traditional Catholic Culture: “The Harrowing of Hell” by Hieronymus Bosch

I. Introduction

Hieronymus Bosch’s The Harrowing of Hell, an oil on oak panel measuring approximately 33.2 × 45.9 cm and dating to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, portrays Christ’s triumphant descent into the underworld to liberate the righteous dead. The scene—commemorated liturgically on Holy Saturday—depicts a dramatic threshold between death and new life, with the Redeemer standing over Hell’s gates as freed souls emerge in awe while grotesque demons recoil at His coming.

In Catholic aesthetic theology, beauty and form serve as sacramental media, directing the viewer beyond mere appearance into contemplation of divine mysteries. At the heart of Catholic anthropology lies the doctrine of the imago Dei: “The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God” (Catechism §1700). This “image of God” signifies humanity’s capacity for relationship, reason, and freedom—qualities that both distinguish us within creation and call us into communion with the Triune God.

This essay proposes that The Harrowing of Hell acts as a vivid cultural expression of the Catholic aesthetic‑theological vision of the imago Dei. Through its formal composition, symbolic contrasts (Christ as the New Adam alongside distorted demonic figures), and rootedness in medieval devotional practice, Bosch’s work not only recounts an event of salvation history but also reveals the inherent dignity and destiny endowed to every human person. In what follows, we will explore how traditional Catholic culture—through sacred art—makes the doctrine of the imago Dei both seen and spiritually encountered.

II. Catholic Aesthetic Theology and the Imago Dei

At the heart of Catholic aesthetic theology is the conviction that beauty is not merely decorative but revelatory—an encounter with divine truth mediated through sensible form. Hans Urs von Balthasar, in the opening volumes of his theological “trilogy,” locates the pulchrum (the beautiful) alongside the verum and bonum as a transcendental that “shapes the external form and style” of theological expression, moving the whole person by beauty’s inner glory. Thomas Aquinas likewise affirms that “God is beauty itself,” and that every created instance of beauty participates in that divine beauty, drawing the human heart toward its transcendent source. In this sacramental vision, art becomes a language of God, where form and color function like the elements of a liturgy—engaging the senses to open the soul to mystery.

The doctrine of the imago Dei (“image of God”) provides the foundational anthropology for this aesthetic theology. “The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God,” teaches the Catechism (§ 1700), and this likeness is fulfilled in our vocation to divine beatitude. Patristic writers such as St. Irenaeus and St. John Damascene distinguish between the image (our created capacity for reason, will, and relationship) and the likeness (our call to grow in holiness), while scholastic theologians like Aquinas develop how that image, though wounded by sin, remains irrevocable and oriented toward communion with God. Thus, every human being bears an innate beauty, a sacramental sign of God’s glory and a promise of our destined transfiguration.

Catholic culture has historically embodied the imago Dei through its patronage and production of sacred art. From the mosaics of Ravenna to the polyphony of Notre Dame’s stained glass, the Church has long enlisted artists to make visible the dignity bestowed upon humanity by its Creator. “The Catholic Church has long been one of history’s greatest patrons of the arts, understanding that beauty is a pathway to the divine,” notes a recent survey of modern creative culture  . In theological aesthetics, this cultural flourishing is more than historical happenstance: it reflects the teaching that the world—“created in [God’s] image”—allows us to access divine beauty through forms both natural and crafted  . Sacred art thus functions as a mirror of the imago Dei, reminding viewers of their intrinsic worth and orienting them toward the ultimate Beauty who alone fully satisfies the human heart.

III. Context and Composition of The Harrowing of Hell

The Harrowing of Hell depicts the apocryphal episode—described in the Gospel of Nicodemus—of Christ’s descent into the underworld between His Crucifixion and Resurrection, to free the righteous dead. While no autograph version by Hieronymus Bosch survives, the composition was evidently popular, known through multiple early-sixteenth‑century replicas and “followers of Bosch” copies—most notably examples in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. These variants date broadly to circa 1500–1530, placing the design at the end of Bosch’s lifetime and testifying to its currency in late medieval devotional culture.

Visually, the scene is organized around a central vertical axis: Christ, clad in radiant robes, stands atop Hell’s broken gates, firmly planted between the doomed and the redeemed. Below Him, the interior of Hell yawns open as a cavernous void, populated by tormented souls and grotesque demons—a motif Bosch perfected in panels like The Garden of Earthly Delights’ right wing. To Christ’s right, figures such as Adam and Eve kneel in supplication, their humble gestures indicating their deliverance; to His left, demons recoil, their twisted forms emphasizing the rupture of evil’s dominion.

Spatially, the composition employs a lowered horizon and a shallow pictorial depth: the viewer is drawn immediately to the threshold where Heaven’s light meets Hell’s darkness. Architectural ruins and jagged rock formations frame the scene, guiding the eye inward toward the drama at the center. Bosch’s characteristic flattening of perspective and his use of hierarchical scale—Christ towering over lesser figures—reinforce the painting’s theological message: the sovereignty of the Redeemer over death and the innate dignity of those created in God’s image, now restored to freedom.

In devotional practice, such images of the Descent into Limbo were especially resonant on Holy Saturday, when medieval liturgy paused in mournful expectation before the Easter Vigil. As both narrative tableau and meditative icon, The Harrowing of Hell invited contemplative participation: believers could imagine Christ’s victorious entry into the netherworld and, by extension, their own hope of resurrection. In the next section, we will explore how Bosch’s iconography uses Christ’s New Adam typology, the portrayal of liberated souls, and the grotesque demons to articulate the Catholic doctrine of the imago Dei.

Become a subscriber and get access to more articles—including the rest of this one! Paid subscribers get more benefits in addition to actively helping to preserve and build a traditional Catholic culture!