Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00010079Heaven and Hell
About the Artwork
This painting focuses upon the struggle between good and evil for the soul of a young woman. Looking out at the viewer, she is shown in the upper center of the composition, immediately below an angel and directly above Satan. At the upper right Saint Michael—holding scales for weighing the goodness of souls—admits the blessed to Heaven. Below, the Damned struggle to avoid the fiery pits of Hell and the demons that will torment them for eternity. At the time Tassaert painted this work, France was undergoing considerable political upheaval. In 1848, the country was wracked by a civil war between royalist and republican forces. Tassaert himself believed strongly in the Republic, and probably intended the young woman—caught between the sensual, worldly temptations of royalist excesses and the noble, pure ideals of the Republic—to personify the country of France.
Provenance
Georges Martin du Nord, Paris, France (Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY) -1977: (Shepherd Gallery, New York, NY, May 1977, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin) 1977-1980: Mr. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland, OH by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1980-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Octave Tassaert (French, 1800–1874)
- Date
- c. 1850
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Dimensions
- Framed: 121 x 90.5 x 6.5 cm (47 5/8 x 35 5/8 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 100 x 69.5 cm (39 3/8 x 27 3/8 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Bequest of Noah L. Butkin
- Accession no.
- 1980.287
More by Octave Tassaert in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00010079
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