Focus on The Ascension of the Elect and explore the Subject and source material.
The subjects of the two wings (as well as hinges and locks on the side panels) imply a missing center panel of a Last Judgment scene. Hilde Claes writes that "the relationship between The Road to Heaven and the Fall of the Damned is worked out so ingeniously that both compositions almost certainly belonged together."Catheline Périer-D’Ieteren writes that while traditionally "the elect" ascend a stairway to heaven, here they walk on a path rich and lyrical in plant and animal life toward a terrestrial paradise. An angel in a red robe guides them toward the "fountain of life" described in Revelation.
While Bouts reorganized and separated the content, the artists likely drew upon Jan van Eyck's Last Judgement, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Rogier van der Weyden's treatment of the subject at Beaune. The treatment of vegetation in the foreground recalls the painting in oil by the brothers Jan and Hubert van Eyck at Ghent.
the painting treatment Ghent Hubert van Eyck Last Judgment Last Judgement Jan van Eyck fountain of life Rogier van der Weyden angel Beaune Hubert Metropolitan Museum of Art