who is the artist of the last judgment tympanum from the cathedral of saint-lazare? This is a topic that many people are looking for. bluevelvetrestaurant.com is a channel providing useful information about learning, life, digital marketing and online courses …. it will help you have an overview and solid multi-faceted knowledge . Today, bluevelvetrestaurant.com would like to introduce to you Last Judgment Tympanum, Cathedral of St. Lazare, Autun. Following along are instructions in the video below:
Playing dr. Zucker. The prospect of spending.
An eternity in hell is terrifying even in in the abstract. But to be confronted with images that depict this must have really the medieval mind. Dr.
Harris. Were looking up at the doorway of the cathedral of autun. Which represents.
I think the most terrifying image of the last judgement of the damned in hell. That exists in art history. Dr.
Zucker of course. It also includes heaven. But i think people were probably spending much more time looking and fearing hell.
This is a sculpture that is one of the first monumental sculptures to be made in the medieval period. There had been of course monumental sculpture in ancient greece and ancient rome. But after the 5th century or so monumental sculpture really fell away and this has been part because of the economic and political chaos of the medieval period.
Its at this time around 1000 or just after that things begin to stabilize. Dr. Harris.
Theres an enormous building boom of churches in europe during this time. And we begin to see monumental sculpture on the doorways of churches and inside the churches on the capitals. Dr.
Zucker. We have this magnificent new cathedral at autun and its important to remember that this was because of the relics that were here. Dr.
Harris. Pilgrims were traveling all over europe during this period. To visit the relics.
The parts of saints in this case. Here at autun the bones of st lazarus each church had relics dr. Zucker.
The relics were extremely important. It was believed that they could heal the sick that could offer blessings that might even shorten ones time in purgatory. If you came and paid homage to them.
If you prayed to them. Dr. Harris.
Often churches were refurbished or special reliquaries were made to house those relics. But in the case of autun. This church was built specifically to house the relics of st lazarus.
They built a whole church for their relics. Dr.
Zucker of course theres the spiritual dimension. But theres also an economic dimension. These relics were economic engines for a community because you had these pilgrims come in they needed to stay in inns they needed to eat there was a real economic prosperity that surrounded important relics thats certainly.
The case here if you think about lazarus. The person whos bones are within the church. This is the brother of mary magdalene.
Who christ brought back to life. According to the new testament. This is about rebirth about a kind of hope after death of course.
That is the subject of the last judgement. Dr. Harris.
So we imagine the faithful looking up at this doorway reading the sermon in stone. As bernard of clairvaux. Said.
The story of the last judgement people were illiterate. This was how they learned these stories. Dr.
Zucker. The images really were text and we are meant to read. Them so lets go.
Ahead and do exactly that. Drharris. So we have the most obvious figure christ in the center.
Hes bigger than everybody else. Dr. Zucker.
This is a kind of heiratic organization. The most important figure is largest by far hes so flat. Hes so linear.
And theres no concern with the proportions of his body. Dr. Harris.
Hes elongated and we see lines that are carved into the stones to indicate these repeated folds of drapery. Dr. Zucker.
Theres real concern with the decorative. Dr. Harris.
Hes frontal. Hes symmetrical. Hes this divine figure who stares out in judgement.
Dr. Zucker.
He stares out past us as if hes on a plan that is completely different from ours. He sits on a throne that is the city of heaven. And you can make out the little arched windows both below his feet.
And as if it was actually the furniture that he sits upon of course. Thats a literal reading. And this is meant to be metaphoric his hands.
And his halo and his feet break the mandorla this almond shape that completely encloses his body and is meant to function as almost a kind of a full body halo. A representation of his divinity. Dr.
Harris. There are four angels that surround him that seem to be ushering him forward. Dr.
Zucker. They also are literally holding up the mandorla as if this divine light that surrounds christ has weight. Dr.
Harris and like christ those angels are also elongated their bodies move and twist in these wonderful ways. Dr. Zucker.
There is this incredible expressiveness. Dr. Harris.
We read images of the last judgement thinking about christs left and christs right on christs left are the damned going to hell and on his right are the blessed. Whove been selected for heaven. Dr.
Zucker on christs right at the top. We see the virgin mary. Whos enthroned in heaven.
Theres an angel next to her dr. Harris blowing a trumpet to awaken the dead and to announce the coming of christ. Dr.
Zucker. We can see the architecture of heaven itself with some blessed souls within. It we can see angels as well assisting the blessed into heaven.
Its interesting to note that souls are represented as nude figures. Dr. Harris.
One of the most famous parts of this tympanum is the figure of st. Michael. Who is weighing souls.
A demon seems to be trying to tip the scales in favor of those who have sinned so they can get more souls for hell. Dr. Zucker.
Its so interesting to think about this literal representation of the weighing of souls that morality has gravity in some way dr. Harris look at that figure who hides in the drapery those curling lovely swirls of drapery of st michael that figure is so different from the figures to the right who are being pulled up by hooks by a demon into the fires of hell.
Who have realized that theyre going to spend eternity being tortured. Dr. Zucker.
Its pretty bad. Dr. Harris.
Its terrifying. Dr. Zucker.
I find the demons. Much more interesting their mouths are gaping open. They look just ravenous as if theyre ready to eat those souls.
Theyve got claws. Theres a three headed serpent wrapping around the legs of one of the devils. There really are images of horror here.
Dr. Harris. Theres an inscription right below the figures that make this point.
Exactly it reads may this terror terrify. Those whom earthly error bind for the horror of these images here in this manor truly depicts what will be in the medieval mind. There is no doubt this will happen.
And where will you be when this happens. Dr. Zucker and dont look to christ.
Because christ is looking past us. Its too late so lets move down then to the area thats closest to us that speaks to this issue of which side will we be on the tympanum itself is that lunett its that half circle. But its supported by a long cross beam.
Which is called a lintel this is the moment when the dead are lifted out of their graves are resurrected to be judged. This is kind of a line waiting for the judgement. Dr.
Harris. Theyre literally at this moment emerging from their tombs. Dr.
Zucker. You can see the sarcophagi at their feet. I see an angel that is clearly helping one soul.
But on either side. There are two other souls who seem to desperately clutch at that angel hoping that hell bring them along as well as we move to the center. Things almost seem to become a little less certain you can see two people purses.
One with a cross one with a scalloped shell. This would be a reference to pilgrims who had perhaps gone to jerusalem. Who had perhaps gone to spain trying to visit important relics.
So that they might be among the blessed. Dr.
Harris right to improve their chances of getting into heaven. Dr. Zucker and if you didnt thing would not always work out well.
Dr. Harris and so we see exactly that directly below christ. We see an angel wielding.
A sword toward a terrified figure who with his eyes bulging seems to try to move away from the angel. Dr. Zucker.
And in fact. Everybody whos in front of the angel looks. Absolutely terrified look at the figure that is kneeling clutching the sides of his head.
Almost as if hes saying. How could this be true how can it have come to this dr. Harris.
If you continue to bring your eye toward the right. We see figures who are contorted in this recognition of their fate in hell. They bend their knees.
They form angular shapes with their bodies compressed as though theyre being crushed into hell. Its incredibly expressive in their bodies. Dr.
Zucker dramatic. Absolutely. But probably nothing is more dramatic than the realization on the face of the soul whos head is being clutched by two enormous claws.
The hands. Presumably of a devil whos being plucked up into hell. Dr.
Harris. You can see that the sculptor carved the eyes deeply carved the open mouth deeply so that we get a sense of his almost primal scream. Our historians have interpreted an inscription on the doorway which reads gislebertus hoc fecit gislebertus.
Made this as being an inscription referring to the sculptor himself dr. Zucker that would be extremely unusual in the modern era. We associate artwork with the genius of the individual but in the medieval period artists were craftsman artists were not seen as individual geniuses.
So these objects were not signed dr. Harris. But it was so nice to imagine that we knew the name of the artist who did this dr.
Zucker. There has been some new scholarship that suggests that perhaps we have been mislead and that gislebertus is not actually the name of the artist. Dr.
Harris. The recent scholarship suggests that gislebertus is actually the name of a duke who was associated with bringing the bones of st. Lazarus to autun so in a way legitimizing this church as the rightful place for the bones of lazarus dr.
Zucker. But even if we dont know the name of the artist. We do know the power of his work.
Dr. Harris. Theres no doubt about that piano playing .
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