Recepcja biblijnego obrazu sądu ostatecznego w sztuce sakralnej

Abstract

It is with great excitement that we read the words in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, in which Jesus announces His second coming, which will be accompanied by a final separation of the chosen and the condemned. This vision of the Last Judgement has been an inspiration for numerous works of art, often made by great artists and with powerful expression. The authors in a joint effort of a Biblicist and an art historian devote the paper to these works, regarded, especially from the point of view of reception of the Biblical description of the Last Judgement and expression of its contents in the language of art. Given prominence in works of art, the Last Judgement in a Biblical thought is just one component of the Day of the Lord, which is referred to in the paper with the help of two terms of Greek origin. The coming of Christ is referred to as parusia and epiphainein. Both terms are rich in meaning and for that reason their particular aspects are discussed. Having discussed the perspectives, in which the Biblical revelation instructs on the Last Judgement, the authors go on to detect this reality in artistic creation. The first iconographical depictions of the Last Judgement were rather terse. The artists focused on illustrating the truth about the separation of the chosen and the condemned, using for this purpose an image of the Good Shepherd amidst sheep (the chosen) and goats (the condemned). The parable of the Ten Girls became yet another prototype of the Last Judgement in iconography. We can speak about a full-scale presentation of the Last Judgement in art only in the 9th century. A schema which was then created lasted until the 19th and even 20th century, almost unchanged. The iconographical form of that composition was shaped by the Bible, Apocrypha as well as Church tradition. The basic source of inspiration for artists, however, was naturally the text from the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Monumental compositions of the Last Judgement we meet for the first time in the Byzantine art In the Middle Ages the subject of Parusia can be commonly seen both in miniatures and in great, monumental compositions of painting and architectural sculpture. The Renaissance brought further changes while the Baroque departs from symbolic representations of the Last Judgement of the Middle Ages. A cursory review of the works of sacred painting shows the main trends in artistic reception of the Biblical picture of the Last Judgement.