The Maze (painting) autobiography "Someone With Me" and his accounts for the Bethlem Royal Hospital, which houses the painting today. The rat spirit at the center cavity of the skull now has a view to the outside, but the outside world is not depicted as an attractive place either. Wheatfield backdrop: The backdrop of the painting is a wheat field being devoured by grasshoppers under the blazing hot sun (this derives from an incident on the Kurelek farm when William was a boy). Kurelek writes, "this refers to my belief that my problems stemmed in a large part from my father taking out
The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb for what purpose the painting was created. Various suggestions have been offered, including as a predella for an altarpiece, a free-standing work, or an ornament for a sepulchre. In 1999, the art historians Oskar Bätschmann and Pascal Griener raised the possibility that the panel was intended to form part of a Holy Tomb, perhaps as a lid to be laid over a sepulchre. It is known that Holbein used a body fished out of the Rhine as a model for the work. The panel has attracted fascination and praise since it was created. The Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky was captivated