Heaven and Hell, Burghley House

Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, was built between 1555 and 1587 and is the grandest Elizabethan house in England. It is also one of the most palatial country houses open to the public. The two photographs from its interiors feature the painting of Antonio Verrio who worked there in the late 1600s. The first is the Heaven Room where on the walls and ceiling the classical gods disport themselves among Corinthian columns. 

The second, nearby, shows a detail of the Hell Staircase where Verrio depicts the entry to Hell as the open mouth of a cat. Medieval Doom paintings of the type commonly seen in churches, were intended to warn observers of the perils of a life that ended in Hell. Verrio and his patrons seem to have had no such didactic aim: entertainment seems to have been their motivation.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10     2017