ESSAY #2c

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Autun_St_Lazare_Tympanon.jpg- Last Judgment – Giselbertus, 1120-1135)

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=875&bih=728&tbm=isch&tbnid=4i_0CDMKrIiIpM:&imgrefurl=http://ashraf62.wordpress.com/the-egyptian-torah-2/&docid=q07ffpiX5PMJVM&imgurl=http://ashraf62.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/weighing_of_the_heart.jpg&w=1923&h=862&ei=3BRLT8bMHaOQsQLJ183qCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=228&vpy=113&dur=2033&hovh=150&hovw=336&tx=142&ty=99&sig=100105578648719526460&page=1&tbnh=74&tbnw=164&start=0&ndsp=16&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0- Egyptian Papyrus Last Judgment or Final Judgment-Book Of The Dead- 1550 BC)

ESSAY #2c

QUESTION: Describe the Egyptian papyrus painting popularly referred to as the Last Judgment or Final Judgment with that of the sculpture Last Judgment by Giselbertus. How do the two compare with the Last Judgment by Michelangelo Buonarroti?

Part one:

Summary: my experience answering this question is understanding how each culture has there own belief of how the world would seem when it comes to a end or how someone life is judge during the end of their life.

Reason: I believe the reason for this question is to understand how one culture sees the world judgment day similar towards another culture though each of them share a different belief.

Purpose: I believe the Purpose Mr. Fortier asked this question was for us students to understand that even though each of this paintings and sculptor were made during a different time period they still hold the same belief of being judge during the final days on earth or death.

Direction: the Direction I was going for was to understand why

Impression: what I received the most out of this question was understanding of how and why each art work has its own idea of how the world would seem or look like to a painter or sculptor during the final days of earth.

Part two:

Answer:

Throughout the centuries there were many paintings of the final days of earth existents. Artist themselves try to show the world how they would portray the final judgment in an artistic view. Many different countries have their own interpretation of Judgment day; each artwork shares the same purpose even if they do not share the same belief. For example, the Egyptian painting known as the Final Judgment portrays a story of a man name Hunefer and the three steps he took to reach the afterlife. In the textbook section “The Books of the Dead” it would explain how Anubis the jackal-headed god of embalming and cemeteries leads Hunefer by the hand to the spot, where he will weight Hunefer heart with the feather of truth. Ma’at the goddess of truth order and justice would appear ontop of the balancing arm of the scales wearing the feather as a headdress while the crocodile and part lion and part hippopotamus would watch while the trail begins. Hunefer passes the test and would kneel down before fourteen gods of the underworld to be accepted to the afterlife. (Art History fourth edition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Michael W.Cothren,76,78)

Another Fnal Judgment artwork would be a sculpture called” The Last Judgment” by Gislbertus which explains when Jesus comes back once again to earth to claim his followers to bring them to heaven. It might not hold the same belief as the Egyptians but it stills shows a somewhat similar meaning towards how one would believe to experience a judgment from God. In this very detailed visuals sculpture explains how the last judgment in which Christ enclosed in a mandorla which was held by two svelte angels who has returned at the end of the world to judge the humans, who bodies rises from their sarcophagi along the lintel at his feet. On the right the sinner is seen tormented while being sent to hell when the left you see the just and good is sent to heaven by angels. (Art History fourth edition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Michael W.Cothren, 477) Gislbertus clearly shows how God himself judges who should or should not enter heaven.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Michelangelo%2C_Giudizio_Universale_02.jpg- Last Judgment- Michelangelo Buonarroti-1541)

There are similarities in Michelangelo Buonarroti’s painting, Last Judgment, and the paintings of the Last Judgment by Gislbertus and the Egyptian papyrus Final Judgment, which explains what people will face on judgment day or an afterlife experience. A website explained how the painting “itself centers on Christ in the moment before he utters the verdict of the Last Judgment. Next to him is Mary and around him are his Saints.” (http://www.michelangelo-gallery.com/the-last-judgment.aspx ) Gislbertus sculpture also represents the same type of meaning by also having Mary being close to Christ and saints around him. Gislbertus artwork shown on the Art History textbook has an underline description of Mary which says “Christ mother, Mary is enthroned as queen of heaven.” (Art History fourth edition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Michael W.Cothren,478). Another comparison of both the artwork is how Gislbertus and Michelangelo portray Jesus and his follower towards heaven being upwards and hell being gruesome towards the bottom of the art work. On the bottom of Michelangelo’s painting you can see “Charon the mythical boatman of Roman and Greek mythology who ferried the damned to hell.” (http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Last-Judgement.html). In Gislbertus’s painting the devil is being seen as bringing the sinners to hell.

Michelangelo painting and the Egyptian papyrus has the meaning that a person must face a test to enter the afterlife or heaven. “By the time of the new kingdom, the Egyptians had to come to believe that the only a person free from wrongdoing could enjoy an afterlife.” (Art History fourth edition volume one, Marilyn Stokstad Michael W.Cothren page76) Michelangelo’s painting shows how God’s himself judges the people of their sins and if they truly belong in heaven or Hell. These paintings and sculpture were made in different centuries and each share the test of human-beings to something higher and more powerful than themselves to judge.