Trumpet-playing angels and poena sensus. Some reflections on the Last Judgement by Hieronymus Bosch from the Groeningemuseum in Bruges
Abstract
The Last Judgement triptych from the Groeningemuseum in Bruges is currently considered by members of the Bosch Research and Conservation Project as an undisputed work in the oeuvre of Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516). The triptych is dated c. 1495-1505. In the article I demonstrate the connection (and thus the interpretation), based on two categories – inventio and fantasia, between the images of trumpet-playing angels and two musical instruments: a harp and bell, fulfilling the function of penitentiary tools. Two damned linked to them undergo punishment of senses (poena sensus). The driving force behind this refined form of torture, in response to amoral living seen in the light of Christian ethics, would be the angels. They play with their instruments turned in the direction of the harp and bell. In the context of the main contents of the Bruges Last Judgement I perceive the trumpet-playing angels using long, straight aerophones with banners as heraldic trumpeters. The painter, within the context of his own iconographical game, departed from the traditional topos of an angel eschatological trumpeter and in reaching for motifs of instruments connected to King David (harp) and the Church (bell), went beyond positive connotations related to them.
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