Last Things

Georg Lemberger
The Fifth Trumpet opening the Bottomless Pit
1524
hand-colored woodcut
from the "Luther" Bible
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Hermann tom Ring
The Last Judgment
1595
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Johan Wierix after Michelangelo
The Last Judgment - Sistine Chapel
ca. 1585
engraving
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wulfenbüttel

Hieronymus Francken the Younger
The Last Judgment
ca. 1605-1610
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anonymous Italian Artist after Federico Zuccaro
Figures from The Last Judgment
16th century
drawing
Yale University Art Gallery

Anonymous German Artist
Daniel's Vision of the Four Monsters
ca. 1478
hand-colored woodcut from the Koberger Bible
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Anonymous French Artist
Three Scenes from the Apocalypse of St John
ca. 1478
hand-colored woodcut
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

El Lissitzky
Gravedigger
(costume design for opera, Victory over the Sun)
1923
lithograph
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Scott Gentling
À Marat
1989
watercolor and gouache on paper
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Marcantonio Raimondi
Christ in Limbo
ca. 1504-1505
engraving
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Rosso Fiorentino
Proserpina and Saturn in Niches
1526
drawing (print studies)
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Monogrammist IB
Saturn
(from Seven Planets series)
1528
engraving
Graphische Sammlung, ETH Zürich

Jean-Pierre Sudre
Les Poires Pourries
1955
gelatin silver print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Edvard Munch
Vampire II
ca. 1895-1900
lithograph
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Edvard Munch
Vampire
1895
lithograph and color-woodblock print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Théophile Schuler
The Chariot of Death
1848-51
oil on canvas
Musée Unterlinden, Colmar

Chorus of Persian Elders:

Not long now will those in the land of Asia 
remain under Persian rule,
nor continue to pay tribute
under the compulsion of their lords,
nor fall on their faces to the ground
in awed obeisance; for the strength of the monarchy

has utterly vanished.

Nor do men any longer keep their tongues
under guard; for the people

have been let loose to speak with freedom,

now the yoke of military force no longer binds them.
In its blood-soaked soil

the sea-washed isle of Ajax

holds the power of Persia. 

[The Queen returns, plainly dressed, on foot, and alone, herself carrying offerings in a tray or basket.]

Queen:  My friends, anyone who has experience of misfortune knows that in human affairs, when one is assailed by a surge of troubles, one is apt to be afraid of anything; whereas when divine favour is flowing your way, you tend to be sure the breeze of good fortune will always continue to blow from astern.  So for me now, everything is full of fear: before my eyes there appear hostile visions from the gods, and in my ears there resounds a din that is not a song of cheer – such is the stunning effect of these misfortunes that terrifies my mind.  That is why I have retraced my path, coming back from my house without my carriage and without my former luxury, bringing propitiatory drink-offerings for the father of my child, such as serve to soothe the dead: white milk, good to drink, from a pure cow; the distilled product of the flower-worker, gleaming honey, together with a libation of water from a virgin spring; a drink that has come unsullied from its wild-growing mother, this juice of an old vine; and also here are the sweet-smelling produce of the tree whose foliage never ceases to live and flourish, the blond olive-tree, and a woven garland of flowers, the children of Earth, the bearer of all life.* Now, friends, accompany these drink-offerings to the nether powers with auspicious songs, and call up the divine Darius; meanwhile I will send these honours on their way to the gods below, by letting the earth drink them up.

– Aeschylus, from Persians (472 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

*every one of the six components of the offering is specified in Greek as coming from a feminine source – the cow, the bee, the virgin spring, the mother vine, the olive tree, and Mother Earth