# The Ordeal by Fire \(detail\)

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/the-ordeal-by-fire-detail-r54e95410029829>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [BOUTS, Dieric the Elder](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1>)
- Date: 1451-1500
- Technique: Oil on wood

## Commentary

The Ordeal by Fire \(detail\) c. 1460 Oil on wood Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels In the second panel, the Emperor is giving an audience to the widow. She kneels before him to ask for reparation. In one hand she holds the livid head of her dead husband, and in the other a bar of red hot iron. The bar does not burn her, thus proving the innocence of her dead husband.

## Related artworks

- [Adoration of the Magi](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/adoration-of-the-magi-ra93499ba225ae7>)
- [Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/altarpiece-of-the-holy-sacrament-r02bb72eb1a5570>)
- [Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/altarpiece-of-the-holy-sacrament-rc3f202e2dc2187>)
- [Christ in the House of Simon](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/christ-in-the-house-of-simon-ra8523c92ba8090>)
- [Coronation of the Virgin](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/coronation-of-the-virgin-r13f2f6b45df603>)
- [Ecce Agnus Dei](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/ecce-agnus-dei-r602c7e5c47a0c5>)
- [Hell](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/hell-ra891fa74a1dc8a>)
- [Martyrdom of St Erasmus \(central panel\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/martyrdom-of-st-erasmus-central-panel-rf9b9592de73c1d>)
- [Martyrdom of St Erasmus \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/martyrdom-of-st-erasmus-detail-rd1e5b0d9e93202>)
- [Martyrdom of St Erasmus \(left wing\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/martyrdom-of-st-erasmus-left-wing-r43f2ee3dfe7b5b>)
- [Martyrdom of St Erasmus \(right wing\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/martyrdom-of-st-erasmus-right-wing-rf9fc5075cfe4cc>)
- [Martyrdom of St Erasmus \(triptych\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bouts-dieric-the-elder-rd14f14ded1bbd1/martyrdom-of-st-erasmus-triptych-r7fd64f3d388b32>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)