Careful Pandora

Pandora is depicted here at the moment in which she is releasing countless sorrows unto the Earth, before preserving Hope, humanity's one salvation. These sorrows are represented by a spiraling group of figures reminiscent of an early study of the Last Judgment by Michelangelo (c.1534). Padora’s husband Epimetheus is depicted at right, based on a figure from Goya’s “Que alboroto es este?” (What Is All That Noise About?), from ‘The Disasters of the War’ series. An ambiguous angelic wing and hand pointed skyward, along with some background elements have been copied from Guercino’s ‘The Penitent Magdalen with Two Angels’ (c.1622).