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Original fileThe Last Judgment and the Opening of the Books
Cloisters Apocalypse (filio.)
About This Work
This miniature depicts a scene of divine judgment. At the top, Christ is enthroned within an almond-shaped blue mandorla, holding an open book. Below him, a group of nude figures stand, holding open codices, while other nude figures appear to be rising from the ground or being consumed by fire near a large, grinning Hellmouth at the bottom right. A crowned, haloed figure sits to the left, watching the proceedings. The style is typical of French Gothic manuscript illumination, characterized by delicate lines, a flattened perspective, and a palette of muted reds, blues, and golds.
This image is a direct visual representation of the final chapters of the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse 20:11-15), focusing on the resurrection of the dead and the casting of the damned into the lake of fire. It reflects the medieval preoccupation with eschatology and the accounting of individual deeds through the 'Book of Life'.
Inscriptions(Latin)
Et vidi thronum magnum candidum et sedentem super eum a facie cuius fugit terra et celum et locus non est inventus ab eis Et vidi mortuos magnos et pusillos stantes in conspectu throni Et libri aperti sunt Et alius liber apertus est qui est liber uite et iudicati sunt mortui ex his que scripta erant in libris secundum opera eorum Et dedit mare mortuos quos in eo habebat et mors et infernus dederunt mortuos qui in ipsis erant et iudicati sunt singuli secundum opera ipsorum et mors et infernus missi sunt in stagnum ignis Hec mors secunda est stagnum ignis et qui non est inventus in libro uite scriptus missus est in stagnum ignis Et vidi celum novum et terram novam et mare non est amplius
Translation
And I saw a great white throne and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne. And the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them, and they were judged every one according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the sea is no more.
Connected Texts
Book of Revelation
The image is a literal interpretation of the Last Judgment as described in Revelation 20.