Icon depicting the Last Judgement

The icon depicts a subject which only rarely features on portable icons of the period: a multi-figure representation of the Last Judgement. In the centre of the upper band, Christ sits within an elliptical mandorla flanked by the Virgin and Saint John the Baptist, who are standing in poses of supplication, two groups of apostles enthroned, and the angels on a second plane. The river of fire in which the damned can be seen and which ends in Hell in the (viewer’s) bottom right-hand corner, flows from Christ’s feet. To the right of the fiery flow, two Angels sound trumpets, calling upon the personifications of the earth and sea to surrender their dead. In the upper part of the painting, the scene on the right depicts the Psychostasia, in which an angel and a demon weigh a man’s soul. Alongside them, another angel winds the firmament like a scroll. To the left of the river, six choirs of the Righteous are depicted in arched divisions. The lower left space is occupied by paradise depicted as a walled garden with the Virgin and Abraham within it. Its gate is closed and guarded by a Seraph, but Peter is approaching with a key with which to open paradise to the group of Righteous souls following him. The Preparation of the Throne (Hetoimasia) is depicted in the centre of the lower zone. The artist creates tension in the depiction of the Last Judgement through the large number of figures and scenes he portrays. The essentially cold colour palette add to the suspense, while the fiery river cleaves the scene in two. The modelling of the figures and the rendering of their garments recall similar compositions in Macedonian churches from the Palaiologan period, while the influence of monumental painting on the icon is clear to see.

PUBLICATION
Skampavias K. 2007. Catalogue no. 105, in Skampavias K.—Chatzidakis N. (eds), Paul and Alexandra Canellopoulos Museum.Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art, Athens, 120–125.