Byzantine and Western depictions of the Last Judgement:A comparison between works.
...fication each of night and day, an image likely inspired by verse 6:14 in the Apocalypse, “And the heaven departed as a book folded up…,” and reflecting the complete darkness that Christ foretold as a mark of his Second Coming, as noted by Paul Underwood. It is curious to note that the angel’s placement and posture suggests that she is rolling out the heavens, rather than rolling them up; I would surmise this to be a mistaken interpretation or misunderstanding of the text by the artist. The elect stand to the throne’s right divided into compact groups, reading left to right the first row is occupied by martyrs, apostles, and profits and continuing to the second row, women, monks, and bishops. From Christ’s left foot flows a river of fire down to his left as described in Daniel 7:10, “10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.” Two angels marked by nimbi push two of the damned towards a dragon-like beast ridden by the devil that guards the black hole leading to Hell. In the lower field, the depiction of Hell continues in an illustration of the torments of the damned as described in Matthew Chapters 8, 22, 24, and 25 and placed in 6 evenly spaced rectangular boxes in two rows of three. Below that we see a depiction of the earth and the sea giving up its dead as the angels trumpet to announce the Second Coming, and to the left paradise in two levels. In the upper level of paradise, the virgin sits enthroned with the good thief to her left as identified by the wounds in his feet from when he was crucified beside Christ and accepted Christ as savior and Christ said, “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) Abraham sits below them holding Lazarus in his Bosom with the other souls gathered around him represented as Children. Like the Sinai Icon of the Last Judgement, the Byzantine Last Judgement at Torcello (fig. 2) is arranged in horizontal bands. This iconographic work shares almost the exact same archetype as the Sinai Icon, differing only in a few minor changes in layout concerning the earth and sea giving up their dead and in the interior arrangement of both paradise and the elect waiting to be judged. Larger iconographic works like this one served as a veritable billboard for the church, with scenes of the Last Judgement and the artists’ visions of Hell being quite an effective means of communicating to the masses the eternal punishment awaiting the damned. In the uppermost field, Christ is again enthroned in a mandorla of light, here we see two archangels placed beside the Virgin and St. John at the throne rather than one archangel as seen behind the throne of the Sinai Icon. The apostles are split by the central Diesis with the choir of the elect still present in the background. Below the throne are two wheels which Jónsdóttir points out are the “wheels as burning fire” from Daniel 7:9-10. These wheels are also present in the Sinai icon, but are much more stylized and difficult to recognize. Two Cherubs rest immediately below Christ’s mandorla that are not present in Sinai. What was examined as a middle field at Sinai, is seen more distinctly as two separate middle fields at Torcello. The layout however is very similar, the only changes taking place is the relocation of the Earth giving up its dead to the upper-middle section and the sea giving up its dead now moved to horizontally oppose it. This change is likely due to the presence of a door that interrupts the bottom field. The elect stand in one horizontal row now, with paradise below them. Opposite the elect, stand two angels pushing the damned into Hell in the river of fire. The black hole no longer remains, but the figure riding the beast does. The figure on the beast is now more clearly Satan holding the antichrist. The Virgin, Abraham with Lazarus and souls, and the Good Thief continue to reside in paradise gated by a door with cherub on the bottom field. Now however paradise is seen with palm trees and flowers in an outdoor setting rather than the gold floral motif background of Sinai. The torments of the damned reside to the left of the door and are more visually intelligible. These six boxes which are now pushed more closely together are identified specifically by Jónsdóttir as the torments of the rich and luxurious, the violent, the lazy, the sinners by eyesight, the sinners by hearing, and the sinners by touch. At first look the Torcello Last Judgement appears to share the exact same program of the Sinai icon, and perhaps it is quite probable that only the occurrence of a door, that prevented the artist from exploiting a normally utilized section of workspace, which caused the artist to make changes within the program. Western Last Judgements like their Byzantine counterparts depict the scenes of the Second Coming as described in scripture; however, they are differentiated in an increasing freedom of layout being usurped by the artists in their mostly sculptural renderings and an expanded interest in the portrayal of Hell. One such relief is found on the tympanum at the Church of Ste. Foi in Conques (fig. 3). Denny concludes that the artist who designed the tympanum was familiar with the Byzantine Last Judgment program from possibly a Western copy and referred to it only marginally in the construction of his design. The relief is uninspired by miniatures. Christ sits in the center of mandorla with stars with right hand uplifted towards the just and his left hand pointing down towards Hell. People enter the Church through the right door under Hell and then emerge ...