Initially I wanted to portray only the 7 Sins. Three days after my wedding, my dear friend Edith died, together with her husband and their son, in the Ukraine plane-disaster MH17. I decided to portray her in this painting in the dress she wore at my wedding. That's how the 7 Virtues marched in.
In the Medieval days of Jheronimus Bosch, one actually 'lived' with Satan, Hell, Sins and Virtues. This is the theme of the painting. Now follows a clarification of the figures.
The 7 ( deadly) Sins:
Pride: Satan; he confronts the viewer.
Greed: is depicted by the flea which brought the Plague with his long snout and multiple layerd fur coat.
Lust: the naked woman with the octopus.
Envy: as leviathan with huge and dreadful jaws.
Gluttony: the Lord of the Flies. He possesses his eggs.
Wrath: the angry dragon.
Sloth: the dozing man with a cocktail in his hand.
The 7 Virtues
Charity: my friend Edith who cared so much for other people.
Chastity: the books.
Temperance: the traditional clothed woman who stands for frugality.
Justice: the same woman with closed eyes, hands on the back and scales at the yoke instead of buckets.
Diligence: the lion.
Faith: impression of the Saint John's Cathedral in 's-Hertogenbosch.
Hope: the anchor, lifted by a little bird.
There are more figures and symbols. In the glass ball the painter Jheronimus Bosch is portrayed as a frog, holding a palette with the colours of Oeteldonk, which is the name of 's-Hertogenbosch during Carnival. I have attended these festivities for many years.