Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx [SEP] creator
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx is a painting by the Flemish Northern Renaissance artist Joachim Patinier. Dating to c. 1515–1524, it is in the Museo del Prado of Madrid, Spain.
"Landscape with Charon Crossing Styx" fits into common Northern Renaissance and early Mannerist trends of art. The 16th century witnessed a new era for painting in Germany and the Netherlands that combined influences from local traditions and foreign influences. Many artists, including Patinier, traveled to Italy to study and these travels
traditions contain some kind of Underworld or Afterlife. It is possible that the Proto-Indo-Europeans may have believed that, in order to reach the Underworld, one needed to cross a river, guided by an old man ("*ĝerhont-"). The Greek tradition of the dead being ferried across the river Styx by Charon is probably a reflex of this belief. The idea of crossing a river to reach the Underworld is also present throughout Celtic mythologies. Several Vedic texts contain references to crossing a river in order