The Last Judgment from Les Sept Articles de la Foi by Jean Chappuis
c. 1470
Medium
Manuscript cutting in tempera and gold leaf, and letter bâtarde inscriptions in brownish-black ink, unruled, with decorated initial, on parchment
Dimensions
23.7 × 17.2 cm (9 3/8 × 6 13/16 in.)
Classification
tempera
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
5571
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this powerful image, Christ elevates the chosen, assisted by angels, while demons drag the damned toward hell. Jean Chapuis's 14th-century poem The Seven Articles of Faith explores the moral implications of Christ's birth, baptism, death, descent into hell, resurrection, ascension, and second coming. Treated like a small panel painting rather than a decorated page, this image is characteristic of an accomplished illuminator called the Maitre François in its carefully rendered expressions and ...