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About This Work
The god is shown from behind as a powerful, muscular figure wearing a jagged crown and holding a bident. He gestures toward the burning architecture of the infernal city, while an overturned vessel spills at his feet amidst rising clouds of sulfurous smoke. The print uses a tonal woodblock to create a dramatic, atmospheric effect of light emerging from the darkness.
As part of Goltzius's series of planetary and elemental deities, Pluto represents the chthonic depths and the hidden 'lower' forces of the cosmos. In the Neoplatonic and Hermetic traditions, Pluto often allegorizes the material world's density or the 'inner fire' hidden within the earth, reflecting the esoteric principle of finding spiritual gold within the base matter of the underworld.