Artibus et Historiae no. 20 (X)
1989, ISSN 0391-9064Up
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JACK M. GREENSTEIN - «How Glorious The Second Coming of Christ»: Michelangelo's Last Judgment and the Transfiguration
This article argues that Michelangelo rendered the Last Judgment as an event foretold by the Transfiguration. A survey of theological texts widely known in Renaissance Italy shows that from biblical times onward, Christian thinkers regarded the Transfiguration as a preview of the glory of Christ at the Second Coming. It is precisely this aspect of the Last Judgment which Michelangelo emphasized. Not only did he treat the congregation of the Elect as a glorious Advent, but his unprecedented symmetrical pairing of St. John the Baptist and St. Peter round the judging Christ repeated the composition used to depict the vision of Elijah and Moses with the transfigured Christ. Moreover, he completed this figural allusion by portraying John, Christ, and Peter, respectively, as the fulfilment of Elijah, the transfigured Christ, and Moses - characters to whom they were linked by theological tradition. Finally, an Appendix offers six reasons for accepting Condivi's identification of the right-hand member of this triad as St. John the Baptist, rather than Vasari's identification of him as Adam.
