Artistic visions of heaven and hell
Dante Alighieri, holding a copy of his 14th century epic "The Divine Comedy," is depicted amid views of Florence, heaven, purgatory and hell, in a fresco by Domenico di Michelino dated 1465, in the Duomo.
Western culture has inherited a visual vocabulary for heaven and hell - one a place of beauty and serenity, the other of despair, torment and violence. But where did these artistic representations come from? Apparently not from the Old Testament.
Dale T. Irvin, president of the New York Theological Seminary, told CBS News correspondent Martha Teichner that in the Old Testament, hell was "a shadowy place [or sheol] … a place of sleep," while heaven was "the place that's over our heads … where God lives. It's an ancient cosmology."
"The Punishments of the Damned"
But views of heaven and hell changed over time.
Left: A detail from "The Last Judgement," a 13th century Byzantine ceiling mosaic at the Florence Baptistry.
Teichner asked, "To what extent is our Western concept of heaven and hell shaped by art?"
"I'm tempted to say almost entirely," replied Richard Townsend, director of the Museum of Biblical Art in New York, "and in fact, that's why [Biblical] art, up until the modern era, was didactic."
"The Assumption of the Virgin"
Townsend said the New Testament assumes that in the afterlife, "you sleep when you die and you await the general resurrection, and it comes back on Earth."
Dante's "Divine Comedy," with its bizarre, layered visions of heaven and hell, had a huge impact. By the time of the Renaissance, frescoes depicted heaven as a place in the clouds, where your ancestors resided with God.
In the "Assumption of the Virgin" (left), painted in 1530 in the cupola of the cathedral in Parma, Italy, the artist Correggio "introduced the idea of this sort of great stadium of heaven," said Townsend, "this idea that the saints, God, and the Virgin - and your loved ones - are all in the clouds."
"The Abyss of Hell"
Beyond the description of hell in the Book of Matthew as a "furnace of fire," there was little to inspire artists until Dante's "Divine Comedy," in which the underworld was depicted as an abyss, with descending levels or rings where categories of sinners reside. At the very lowest level, trapped in ice, is the demonic Satan.
Left: Botticelli's "The Abyss of Hell" (c. 1485).
"The Last Judgment"
"The Pains of Hell," from "The Last Judgement" by Fra Angelico, c. 1431, in the Museum of San Marco in Florence.
"The Torment of Unchaste Priests and Nuns"
This 1475 manuscript illumination by the Flemish artist Simon Marmion is one of a series of illustrations depicting a character being shown glimpses of both heaven and hell.
In this scene Tondal, the recently deceased, witnesses a beast eating and excreting clergy members who have broken their vows of chastity.
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
"The Garden of Earthly Delights"
Early Dutch master Hieronymous Bosch's triptych, "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (c. 1490-1510), spans the Garden of Eden, scenes of an idyllic Utopia, and the torment of the damned. Scholars debate whether the entire painting is meant to depict the fall from grace of Man, or a moral warning of a fated afterlife for the corrupt.
Prado, Madrid
Palazzo Ducale, Venice
Two panels - the despairing "Hell," and "Ascent of the Blessed," featuring a journey through a tunnel towards a brilliant light - from a late 15th century painting by Hieronymus Bosch at the Palazzo Ducale, Venice.
"The Last Judgment"
Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment" (1536-1541), in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.
"The Apotheosis of St Ignatius"
Heaven as a place of splendor in "The Apotheosis of St. Ignatius" by Giovanni Battista Gaulli (a.k.a. Baciccio), c. 1685, in the National Gallery of Ancient Art in Rome.
"The Devils, With Dante and Virgil by the Side of the Pool"
Another vision of "The Divine Comedy," of the eighth circle of hell where corrupt politicians reside: "The Devils, with Dante and Virgil by the Side of the Pool" by William Blake (1824-7).
Tate Gallery, London
"The Plains of Heaven"
British artist John Martin painted this bucolic vision, "The Plains of Heaven" (1851-3), part of his "Judgement Series."
Tate Gallery, London
"Pandemonium"
"Pandemonium" (1825) by John Martin. Inspired by John Milton's "Paradise Lost," this painting depicts a demonic palace in hell.
"Ugolino and His Sons"
Carpeaux's sculpture "Ugolino and His Sons" (1865-67) depicted a violent scene from Dante's "Divine Comedy" of a father eating his own children.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
"Inferno"
Gustave Dore's 19th century illustrations of "The Divine Comedy" vividly conjure Dante's journey through heaven, purgatory and hell. Here is pictured fire raining upon blashpemers, usurers and sodomites in "Inferno."
"Inferno"
Gustave Dore's depiction of Satan in an 1861 edition of "Inferno," from Dante's "Divine Comedy."
"Dante's Inferno"
An early cinematic vision of hell was in the 1935 drama "Dante's Inferno." Harry Lachman, a post-impressionist painter who became a set designer and director, incorporated a 10-minute sequence inspired by Dore's vision of "The Divine Comedy."
"Heaven Can Wait"
Passengers for heaven board a Concorde to the afterlife in the comedy "Heaven Can Wait" (1978).
"South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut"
Fire and brimstone abounded in the hell of the animated film "South Park: "Bigger, Longer and Uncut" (1999), but the musical comedy also featured a Satan who sang wistfully of a life "Up There."
"The Day After"
The Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt, Germany, recently hosted an exhibition, "The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory Revisited by Contemporary African Artists." Among the works on display is "The Day After" (2013) by Sengalese artist Ndary Lo.
Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt, Germany
"Prism"
Wim Botha's bronze sculpture "Prism" (2014), at the Frunkfurt Museum of Modern Art's exhibition, "The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory Revisited by Contemporary African Artists."
Wim Botha at Stevenson Galleries, South Africa
Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt, Germany
"Lost in Paradise"
Photographer and performance artist Claudia Rogge created this digitally manipulated vision of heaven in "Lost in Paradise."
"Ever After: Claudia Rogge" (published by Hatje Cantz Verlag)
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan