Initial E from a Municipal Law Book: The Last Judgment (c. 1330): Art, History and Details

Initial E from a Municipal Law Book: The Last Judgment (c. 1330) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Initial E from a Municipal Law Book: The Last Judgment
• Date: c. 1330
• Culture: Germany, Regensburg
• Type: Manuscript
• Technique: ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
• Dimensions: Sheet: 21.3 x 18.2 cm (8 3/8 x 7 3/16 in.)
• Collection: MED - Manuscript Illuminations
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1953.637

A detail from the museum

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

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Gilhofer & Ranschburg (Vienna, Austria). Sammlung Franz Trau, Wien. 1905.
• Art Quarterly (Oct.-Dec. 1953).
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.