Monsters have always fascinated us. For years in the 1960s and 70s every week on a Saturday night I and tens of thousands of British children were delighted and terrified by Daleks, Cybermen and other horrifying aliens in the BBC TV program Dr Who. We were terrified but we loved it and some of those 'monsters' have become part of our national culture! But even in adulthood we continued to relish the experience of being terrified and amazed by horrific depictions of 'otherness', such as aliens bursting out of human stomachs, flesh-eating zombies or the slasher killers such as Freddie Kruger and Jason. There is something about these 'inhuman' creations that continues to fascinate and draw us, partly, I am sure, not just because they represent in a 'safe' form the fear of the unknown, the 'monsters' and the dangers that lie just outside the warmth and safety of human homes and communities but also the darkness within, the monsters who lurk at the very core of human personality and experience. Fascination with monsters dates back to the very earliest human literature and is found in every culture. Jason fought his Minotaur and Beowulf fought Grendel. In the middle ages the artists of the period could indulge that need to thrill and scare their audiences by depicting the monstrous characters inspired by the mythology that surrounded the then prevalent Christian faith; the demons and devils believed to serve as the instruments of the Devil in his war against God and the church. Since the rather thin biblical evidence about such creatures had been the subject of endless speculation by writers and theologians, there was no limit to the kind of monstrosities that could be depicted. Whether depicted as fierce, furry and animalistic or totally bug-eyed and 'alien' these creatures represented the darkness that, in the minds of most people in the period, lay 'all around'. They usually had inhuman, merciless eyes, sharp teeth and bore some kind of terrifying weapon. They were intent upon ruining our path to heaven and dragging us down to the endless torments of hell. Worst of all, they were never very far away. I suspect my very real fear of meeting a cyberman when I went up to bed on a saturday night was not so different from the terror many people then would have felt in venturing too far away from hearth or home lest they encounter the demons and devils who, in that pre-scientic age, were believed to be the cause of human misery. One of the most brilliant depictions of this medieval 'bestiary of evil' comes from the brush of the German artist Stefan Lochner in his glorious Last Judgement. In this post I discuss this amazing picture and highlight some of the ways his version of the demonic hordes and its battle with the forces of good, reflect the prevalent mind-set of the day, in which, for some, the spiritual battle over human souls was terrifyingly real and its outcome dangerously unpredictable. "However they can be compared artistically, the really interesting differences to me are their theological differences. Lochner populates his picture with monsters, devils, demons, blue 'fighter angels' and the infernal city. Instead of a judgment, there is a battle. The serene Michael disappears to be replaced by a scene of violence and uncertainty. The fate of the dead is partly undecided (unless you are a Muslim, or overweight, or both!). Hell is all about torments and pain inflicted by the hellish hordes. Gone is the sense of personal emotional connection that the viewer makes with van der Weyden's characters. Lochner's painting doesn't challenge the viewer to engage with the scene but rather offers the "feel good factor" of seeing the heathen, corrupt churchmen and the corpulent rich consigned to the unspeakable horrors of hell."
In the previous post, Hell in the Hospital: the Last Judgment of Rogier van den Weyden, I suggested that the emotional depth of that remarkable painting came from its depiction of human emotions in the faces and attitudes of those destined for hell, and that the theological depth came from the absence of any demonic characters. This fate was something the damned had managed all by themselves. In the picture we see that as they draw nearer to hell the lost become increasingly part of a jumble of undifferentiated humanity devouring each another. There is no devil and there are no demons in van den Weyden's version of the last judgment: There is no need of any - human beings are quite capable of tormenting themselves and one another! In complete contrast, the Last Judgment of Stefan Lochner (1410-1451) is a dramatic visual portrayal of the demonic hordes of hell. Lochner's Last Judgment is all about the monsters. They are the stars of his show, and to a great degree it is they (and the angels) who determine the fate of the dead. Send on the monstersWhile Van den Weyden's Last Judgment is precise and careful, with each character individually represented, with a fixed and emotionless Christ and Michael and each human character below revealing either the rapture of salvation or the growing horror and terror of damnation, Lochner's picture is teeming with people and creatures. The focus is not on how they are feeling but what they are doing. It isn't so much the experience of each individual which grabs the attention, as the overall effect of the picture. Here we see the teeming masses of humanity emerging into the struggle for their eternal fate. It is a vivid and violent picture and the viewer is drawn into the excitement and suspense of the battle that takes place under the feet of Christ. Here there are plenty of demons and monsters, and they bite! Whereas in Rogier van der Weyden's vision of the Judgment, the dead have already decided their own fates and Michael's scales simply confirm what is already known and done, here, in Lochner's version, the fate of the dead seems to be very much undecided. Demons and angels wrestle and fight for each human life. There is a war going on, and it is not so much the war within the individual as it is a battle over the individual, fought, not by the human conscience, but by, on the one hand, the demons and devils who want to drag us to hell, and, on the other, by the angelic forces of heaven who are intent on saving as many as possible. The resurrection never looked like this!Biblical accounts of the resurrection are few and far between and there is little detail given of what to expect, but in none of them does the resurrection look like this! Stefan Lochner's vision of the Last Judgement is based on the centuries of speculation about devils, demons and their role in salvation and damnation produced since the close of the Christian biblical canon. In depicting a Last Judgement Lochner is following in the footsteps of many artists who had gone before him but in depicting it in this way he reveals a very individual persepctive, informed by a deep and complex demonology. The standard features of a Last Judgement are all still there. Christ is central, sitting above the action. He is judging, right hand raised, left hand down. In this picture he is more animated with his face turned to the right. As in the Van der Weyden Last Judgment, he sits enthroned on a rainbow but now there is no sphere beneath his feet - here he seems to be floating in mid air. He is still attended by representatives of the church but now only two, Mary and one of the Apostles (St John?), both biblical characters. All the bishops and big-wigs have gone, and Mary and the apostle are not sitting as if spectators at the theatre but in poses of prayer, praying no doubt for the outcome of the battle going on beneath them. Angels still attend the scene, some carrying the signs of Christ's passion, some blowing the trumpets that summon the dead from their graves but here the airborne angels are more like sprites than traditional angels, now clothed in blue with feet strangely connected, as if they are fish-like creatures. They have strikingly golden hair. The ground based angels are more "traditional" with white garments and wings (and feet?). But the most obvious difference is that Michael and his weighing scales have gone. Although it is known to us as the Last Judgement, the theme of judgement (and weighing) has been replaced by a battle scene. The strange and horrific effect of the picture comes from the realisation that as the souls pass beneath Christ the fate of many is, as yet, undecided. This is not so much a judgement as a war! Heaven is only for ChristiansIn this detail the path to hell is represented as a kind of military victory. The scene depicts victorious demons and we see are shown the baleful procession of their chained and helpless captives. Who are these in chains? It appears from their headgear that Lochner intended to portray Ottomans/Muslims whose forces at that time threatened Christian Europe. Their fate is assured! They are captives to the demonic powers and are heading to hell. In the detail picture we can see that beside one especially prominent Muslim warrior/general (sultan?), there is a rather large gentleman who is praying hard and digging his feet into the ground but we have no doubts about his fate . . . he is off to the pit of torment with the rest. What is striking (and disturbing) about this image is that there is absolutely no way for these "heathens" to find their way to paradise. They are being marched straight to hell; a green demon blocks the way to paradise and no angels seem interested in fighting to reclaim them. Not one of them seems able to escape. According to Lochner's vision, Christ's mercy extends only to European Christians! Bishops, Popes and KingsI mentioned above that the religious big-wigs had gone from the painting. That wasn't strictly true. They are here but not where you might expect! One of the most striking features of the painting is that most of the characters already in hell seem to be associated with the establishment - religious and political - in one way or another. One of the more fearsome beasts is about to devour a pope, to be followed by a bishop, a priest, a king and a few posh people. Although Luther's revolution in the church was still a few decades away there was at this time a deep sense of discontent with the clergy and the religious establishment and an awareness that there was corruption and hypocrisy throughout the clerical ranks. Books like Boccaccio's Decameron and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales had already made fun of the hypocricies and double standards of various religious types, castigating them for their greed and worldliness. Clearly Lochner (and presumably his viewers) took some delight in the thought of such people being devoured by Satan and his beasts. City of the damnedUnlike Van der Weyden's version of hell, where there are not only no demons, but no infernal city, Lochner pictures the ultimate destination of his damned as a terrible city/castle of fire and torment, set on a hill. There, some poor soul is being eaten by a monstrous black creature while angels and demons engage in aerial combat above. Even here it seems, the angels are able to rescue the lost, despite the efforts of the pitch-fork wielding devil to drive the angels away. As I mentioned in the previous post, the Classical idea of the City of Dis is a common element in the paintings of hell and of course, in Dante. Dis was the Latinised version of the name of the Greek god Hades. By this time the god Dis/Hades had become identified with Satan, which in part gave rise to the idea that somehow hell was Satan's kingdom, an idea without any biblical support at all but fixed in the popular imagination not just by pictures like these but by Milton in Paradise Lost. I am not sure is any of the characters in the picture are in fact a depiction of Satan. The nearest is possibly the large black creature in the middle right of the picture above devouring some poor lost soul. A glorious destinationWhat the great majority of people, on their way to the heavenly city can expect to find is very grand indeed. They find a great city/castle/palace. The saved are met by a welcoming committee of smiling, kindly angels. I am reminded looking at it, of our experience at the London Olympic Games in 2012 where hundreds of people were employed to welcome and greet visitors with smiles and helpful information. There is a band playing at the gates and various angelic beings playing and singing in the battlements above. Clearly music plays a big part in the new life! I am also rather touched and moved to see that there are so many women among the saved. In a culture where women were generally thought to be second class citizens and where theologically, Eve was thought of as the beginning of mankind's problems, it is gratifying that Lochner's hopeful picture is at least a non-sexist one! The City of God itself is a very grand affair, much more spectacular than Van den Weyden's version. This isn't so much a church as a great cathedral. But again, as in Van den Weyden's picture, the meaning of the imagery is clear. The place of salvation is the church. The saved are being ushered into the heavenly counterpart of the institution they had belonged to below (with all its imperfections and imperfect representatives - who are now languishing in hell!) by welcoming angels. I find this detail particularly delightful and touching. Here there is a moment of real intimacy between the welcoming angel and one of the women waiting to enter heaven. Are we to take it that the welcoming angel was once a human who knew the woman? Or is there just a natural, open intimacy in the new creation/heavenly world? Don't mess with the monstersThe monstrous demons and devils are very strong. Despite the man pummeling the head of the demon carrying him on his shoulders he is powerless to stop the demon, while with the other hand the demon drags another corpulent woman along the ground. Another demon (one of the green horned variety) carries off another two victims, one under each arm. Clearly, the message is that by ourselves, as human beings, we are powerless against such fearsome, diabolical adversaries. Salvation for the many or the few?These visual, artistic differences between the Last Judgement pictures of Stefan Lochner and Rogier van der Weyden reveal profound theological differences. Lochner populates his picture with monsters, devils, demons, blue 'fighter angels' and the infernal city. Instead of a judgment, there is a battle. The serene Michael disappears to be replaced by a scene of violence and uncertainty. The fate of the dead is partly undecided (unless you are a Muslim, or overweight, or both!). Hell is all about torments and pain inflicted by the hellish hordes. Gone is the sense of personal emotional connection that the viewer makes with Van der Weyden's characters. Lochner's painting doesn't challenge the viewer to engage with the scene but rather offers the "feel good factor" of seeing the heathen, corrupt churchmen and the corpulent rich consigned to the unspeakable horrors of hell. But there is one difference between the paintings that is so striking and so heart-warming that, given the choice of takingn only one of these to my desert island, I might well go for Lochner. In Lochner's version, most people are saved. There is a great multitude trying to get through the gates of the heavenly city only a meagre few are heading for hell. Where Van den Weyden had the saved entering heaven in small groups of only two or three at a time, now the gates of the heavenly city are crowded to bursting point by the numbers waiting to go in. This is a much more positive, hopeful scene. The horrors of hell may be worse (or at least in terms of physical suffering) but less people experience them. Rogier van der Weyden's sinners on their way to hell look like any of us, nothing distinguishes them from those who head to the heavenly city or from the viewer. In Lochner's version, the damned are very clearly obvious sinners; the bad churchmen, the Ottomans, the abusive and well-fed rich. He clearly expects the vast majority of "ordinary" church-going Europeans to enter the gates of the heavenly city. This is (for the most part) a very generous, hopeful vision. A 'hell' of a rivalryIt's not at all clear what influence, if any, van den Weyden and Lochner had on each other in terms of their Last Judgment paintings. I have read some suggestions that Lochner was inspired by van der Weyden's Last Judgment but the van der Weyden picture was not completed until after 1450 whereas Lochner's Last Judgment is thought by some to be an early work (possibly 1435-1440). There is evidence that van der Weyden was influenced by Lochner in some aspects of his great painting the Columba Altarpiece (Adoration of the Magi). Rogier van der Weyden was commissioned by an unknown patron in Cologne to paint an Adoration of the Magi. He visited Cologne in 1450 to meet the patron and when he was there he saw Lochner's masterpiece, known now as the Dombild Altarpiece. The central panel depicts the very scene, (the adoration of the virgin and baby Jesus by the so-called Magi from the east) that van der Weyden had been commissioned to paint. By studying the original drawings under the paint on van der Weyden's picture of the Adoration, it seems very likely that on his return from Cologne he altered the plans for the painting (i.e. the eventual painting differs from the underdrawings in significant ways) in line with some aspects of Lochner's figure painting. The two were contemporaries and both were great artists. It is likely that they would have respected each other, borrowed from each other and, I am sure, each wanted to outdo the other. At one time both Adoration scenes were available to public view in Cologne at the same time. There is evidence that the two artists were compared. The borrowings from Lochner seem to confirm this: they can be considered as an expression of homage to the German master, but also as a challenge which prompted the citizens of Cologne to compare the two paintings and to ask themselves if van der Weyden had outdone their own famous artist. Although Lochner’s altarpiece is considerably larger and more monumental, Rogier’s is notably more modern. Early Netherlandish Paintings p 39 Stefan Lochner was a great painter. He was also influential in the development of the ideas of hell. His hell, an infernal city where demons and devils devour the damned was then and has remained, the dominant "popular" view of hell which, as I have been arguing, has no biblical basis. To that extent, this painting is "part of the problem". The fact that the picture displays such energy and vibrancy, such delight in portraying the horrors of the imagined infernal creatures, means that is is also a wonderful, delightful painting. Where the wild things areThroughout my research and writing for this post I have been wondering where I have seen some of Lochner's creatures before. I am not sure if there was a direct influence but there are striking similarities! You might also be interested in . . .
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April 2016
GalleryThis blog is as much about images as it is about text. Below is a slideshow of the pictures and images used in this blog. Click on any of the pictures to go to the post where that image is featured.
PostsLocating Paradise #1 In a Garden, Far, Far Away
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #5 'Stuck in the Middle With You'
The Resurrection According to Rahner
Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #4 'And Who by Fire'
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #3: Held in the Balance
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #2: Once, Twice, Three Times a Sinner
The Testament of Abraham and the Threefold Judgement of God #1: The Broad and Narrow Gates
Daily Dante 7: Many Rivers to Cross
Daily Dante 6: 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'
In Hell Everyone Can Hear You Scream. The Vision of Tundale #3
Teeth, Spikes and Cleavers: At the Sharp end of Hell. The Vision of Tundale #2
'No Pain No Gain': The Vision of Tundale #1
'Hellzapoppin':
Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #2 'It's The End of the World as We Know It (and we feel fine)'. Illustrations from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, #1
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #2 Blinded by the Light
Visions of Heaven. Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin #1: Glorious and Immortal
Daily Dante 5: What the gates said.
Daily Dante 4: When I find myself in times of trouble
Daily Dante 3: I'll take you there
Daily Dante 2: Fierce creatures
Daily Dante 1: If you go down to the woods today
In Seventh Heaven or 'What Enoch Did Next'
A World of Fire and Ice: Heaven according to Enoch
The Power and the Glory: Visions of God as king in the Hebrew bible
The Beautiful Bestiary of Catherine Cleves: Monsters and Demons in detail.
Heaven is for Real: Heaven as a physical space up above the sky
Resurrecting the Dead or Reviving the Flowers? The loss of resurrection faith in Judaism.
The Defeat of Death #1: The promise of resurrection in the Isaiah Apocalypse.
The Defeat of Death #2: Death as a hostile power and promise of God's victory in Isaiah
Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: The 'Last Judgement' according to Stefan Lochner
Hell in the Hospital: The 'Last Judgement' of Rogier van der Weyden in the Beaune altarpiece.
'Hell' in the New Testament #2: The gates of Hades shall not prevail
The Hours of Catherine Cleves: Imagining hell and purgatory in Catherine's prayer book
'On Earth as in Heaven': The kingdom of God as a revelation of heaven
'Hell' in the New Testament #1: Gehenna
Lost in Translation #1: How the King James version got it so wrong about hell
Heaven is not our home
Domes, Depths and Demons: The cosmology of the Hebrew world
A Bigger God
"See you in Sheol" - Sheol, the common destination of all
Heaven, Hell and Christian Hope
BooksBelow are some of the books which have helped me the most in the research and writing for this blog. Click on any image to find out more about that book at its page on Amazon uk.
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