Through the intervention of the prophet Isaiah, Hezekiah, King of Judah, was cured of a serious illness.
He celebrated his recovery with a canticle: "I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell: I sought for the residue of my years." (Isaiah XXXVIII: 10)
Here Jean Colombe has represented the "gates of hell." The naked Hezekiah, his face haggard and frightened, sees the abyss from which he has escaped and thanks God for having spared him this torture: "O Lord, save me, and we will sing our psalms all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." (Isaiah XXXVIII: 20)

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