Ernesto Deira and the ferryman of the Underworld

Ernesto Deira and the ferryman of the Underworld

“The witless unsubstantial ghosts who throng the Underworld are the merest shadows of living human beings, lacking all that is needed for real vigorous life. All that survives from the living person is the tenuous psych? or ‘breath-soul’ which departs from the body at the time of death and finds its way to the world of the dead.”

In Greek mythology, Charon, or “Caronte” in Spanish, is the ferryman of the Underworld, responsible for transporting souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron to Hades. The dead would be required to pay the boatman an obolus, or coin, otherwise their soul would be condemned to wander the shores for one hundred years until Charon would agree to take them at no charge. This is the origin of the Ancient Greek tradition of burying bodies with a coin under their tongue.

The origin of the character of Charon is uncertain. In the oldest classical texts, such as the Odyssey, he is not mentioned when journeys to the Underworld are described. Charon appears for the first time in the 6th century BC, specifically in the epic poem Minyas. This is the same period in which we see him for the first time on painted ceramics.

Early representations of Charon show him as an ordinary-looking old man, but over time he takes on a gloomier appearance. He becomes uglier and emaciated. Virgil describes him as crazy and repulsive, with a tangled white beard on his chin only, fierce eyes, and a dirty doublet as his only clothing.

Charon is considered a diamon or minor divinity, as his genealogy is not clear. In the only myth of his own, it is said that he was once chained up for a year for carrying Heracles alive in his boat when he went down to the depths in search of Cerberus.

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+ The myth in the work

In Ernesto Deira’s work Caronte (“Charon”), we see a series of human figures (or part of them) depicted without perspective and without coherence, suspended on the canvas as if floating over each other. The use of the colour red for both the background and the figures, which are barely distinguished by fine black lines in most cases, further accentuates the feeling of claustrophobia.

The scene represented and the title of the work transport us to the Underworld. We could be looking at a group of wandering souls who are either waiting to be transported to the other side of the river, or who have been trapped on the shore as they could not pay a coin. Of all the figures, one in particular stares defiantly at the viewer, bringing us directly into the scene. In contrast to the anonymity of the other figures, his prominent position and attitude makes us wonder whether this could be Charon himself, who has chosen his next soul to transport.