The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 5, 2023

Initial E from a Municipal Law Book: The Last Judgment

c. 1330

Germany, Regensburg

Ink, tempera, and gold on parchment

Sheet: 21.3 x 18.2 cm (8 3/8 x 7 3/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1953.637

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Christ sits on a tricolored rainbow, the three colors symbolize the Trinity: the father, the son (Jesus Christ), and the holy spirit.

Description

This initial E serves as a frame for the figure of Christ, shown here as the judge of the world with the swords of justice emanating from his mouth. Above, two angels emerge from the heavenly realm to announce the final judgment of humankind, while below, the dead rise from their graves. The image provides a visual message of justice, retribution, and accountability, and shows the connection between secular and religious themes during the Middle Ages. Regensburg on the Danube, one of the most important cities in southern Germany in the Middle Ages, was also affected by the plague, although little is known about it from written sources.

Provenance
Franz Trau (1881-1931), Vienna, Austria
1905
(Sale: Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Vienna, Austria, Oct. 27, 1905)
?-1953
Heinrich Eisemann, London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1953-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Gilhofer & Ranschburg (Vienna, Austria). Sammlung Franz Trau, Wien. 1905. no. 91, plate VIII
Art Quarterly (Oct.-Dec. 1953). p. 179
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 150 archive.org
Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Aspects of Late Mediaeval Art; The Mediaeval Conference, the Ohio State University. 1958. no. 11
Art Quarterly (Spring 1958). p. 100
Milliken, William M. "Early Byzantine Silver." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 45, no. 3 (1958). p. 55 www.jstor.org
Ricci, Seymour de. Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, Supplement. New York: Bibliographical Society, 1961.
Milliken, William Mathewson. Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Xth to the Early XVIth Centuries: An Exhibition. Berkeley: University of California, 1963. no. 33
Stones, Alison. Medieval Illumination, Glass, and Sculpture in Minnesota Collections: [Exhibition, Mirror of the Middle Ages: Studies in Medieval Art an Life, at the University of Minnesota Gallery from March 30 to April 30, 1978]. Minneapolis, Minn: University Gallery, 1978.
Ellis, E. Earle. Christ and the Future in New Testament History. Boston: Brill, 2001. Cover
Fliegel, Stephen N., and Stephen N. Fliegel. A Higher Contemplation: Sacred Meaning in the Christian Art of the Middle Ages. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2012. p 38, fig 30.
Exhibition history

Aspects of Late Medieval Art, Gallery of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (October 31 - November 22, 1958).

Pages from Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts, University of California, Berkeley, CA (April 24 - June 8, 1963).

Mirror of the Middle Ages, University Art Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. (arch 28-April 30, 1978).

Pages From Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (April 24-June 8, 1963).

Mirror of the Middle Ages. Tweed Museum of Art University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN (organizer) (March 28-April 30, 1978).

The Decorated Letter and the Illuminator's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 25-December 19, 1993).

Visions of the Divine: Textiles and Manuscripts from Medieval Germany (Manuscript and Textile Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 14, 2016-December 4, 2017).

Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1953.637