Description in Icons, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2004, cat. no. 72:
The Last Judgement, "The Second Coming of Christ"
Third quarter of 16th century, Central Russia
NMI 271

Wood: Spruce (Picea sp.), egg tempera.
Panel made of four boards with
three splines inlaid across the panel,
reinforc ed with 12 dovetails; back
painted black.

PROVENANCE: Antiquariat no 8016 (”Nord -
ische Schule, 16. Jahrh.); Olof Aschberg
1935; Gift of O. Aschberg 1952
EXHIBITIONS: Stockholm 1988, no 21
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Kjellin 1956, pp 140–141,
298–302; Antonova 1963, vol. 2, pp 130–131;
Grabar 1968:1, pp 211–212; Abel 1971, pp 21,
67; Felicetti 1972, p 176; Abel 1978:1, fig. 15;
Taylor 1979, p 51; Sapunov 1980, p 273;
Abel 1981, pp 257–258; Abel 1989:2, p 415;
Sorokaty 1999, pp 404-406, 414-415
CONSERVATION: Restored prior to entering
NM: cracks in panel mended; retouches
mainly along cracks and on background;
borders partly repainted; flaking paint lay-
ers consolidated; NM 1966: various cracks
mended; 1973–76: splines reinforced with
new wood and remounted, cracks in panel
glued, edges top and bottom reinforced
with new wood, stained to match; back
painted with oil paint, extensive damage to
paint layers and paint losses in joints stopped
and retouched, upper border stopped
and retouched, blisters consolidated, icon
cleaned. Paint layer losses along the outer
edges; gold on halos abraded; surface paint
layer somewhat abraded, the inscriptions
especially; panel warped

The Last Judgement – or the Second
Coming of Christ (Vtoroye prishestvie
Khristovo), to use the title stated at the
top of the icon – is the collective designation
for this icon, which, through its
wealth of iconography has, if anything,
expanded into a complete cosmology,
a complete world picture. Despite the
superabundance of figures and indi -
vidual scenes, this picture has a sim plic -
ity and a monumentality which are not
primarily connected with its outward
format. Both colour and drawing are
skilfully used to harmonise this tremendous
diversity into a balanced com posi -
tion. The cruciform shape is the main
unifying element.
The heart of the picture, in terms of
both content and composition, is the
depiction of the Trinity in the centre of
the cross, which in this shape is called
Fatherhood (Otechestvo) in Russian.
Above it we see the Archangel Michael
blowing the trumpet doom, and up -
permost, Christ enthroned, wor ship -
ped by angels, before the walls of the
heavenly Jerusalem. The throne motif
recurs immediately beneath the Trinity.
Here the actual throne is prepared
for Christ’s return by means of the
Cross, apparel (the judge’s toga) and
a book of the Gospels. This, then,
is the depiction which often occurs as
a token of the Last Judgement, called
the Throne prepared (Hetoimasia).
To left and right of the Trinity
respectively stand the Mother of God
and John the Baptist, both interceding
for mankind, accompanied by the
twelve apostles, six on each side. Below
these on the left, i.e. beneath the Mother
of God, are groups of the faithful
in two tiers, and on the right side, i.e.
on Christ’s left, groups of the faithless,
each group being identified by an
inscription. Beneath the Hetoimasia
we see the hand of God, holding the
scale on which souls are weighed; a
number of black imps are trying to
weigh down the balance in their own
favour. Adam and Eve are shown kneeling
on either side of this motif.
The lower part of the picture depicts
Paradise and Hell, the line of demarcation
between them being the great
coils of the serpent of Evil. It’s body is
full of red and black circles containing
devilish figures with pointed chins,
ready to trap their victims. Each representing
sins and virtues mentioned
by name (these inscriptions have been
virtually obliterated). The jaws of the
serpent clamp down on one of Adam’s
feet, while the serpent itself is vomited
forth by the immense, three-headed
infernal monster, on the back of
which, Satan is mounted with the soul
of Judas in his grasp. Behind, crowds
of the condemned are waiting to be
devoured. A number of punitive torments
are illustrated along the lower
edge of the icon.
Bottom left, in a rocky landscape,
we see the Gates of Paradise. Peter
stands there, ready to open up with his
key,while Paul is preaching to the wait -
ing crowd. The patriarchs Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob are seated in the beautiful
landscape within, each dressed in
white, the Penitent Thief before them
with his cross. He was the first to enter
Paradise. Above the patriarchs, the
Mother of God is shown seated on her
throne, surrounded by beautifully styl -
ised trees and attended by angels.
Both the upper corners of the icon
contain depictions referring to the
Apocalyptic prophesies of the Book
of Revelation and to the last battle of
Armageddon. At the upper left we see,
for example, a winged figure with a
trumpet, the seventh trumpet-blowing
angel, whose signal inaugurates the
Return of Christ (Rev. XI:15), and in
the lower right-hand part of the same
section we see the seven angels pouring
forth the seven vials of God’s wrath
(Rev. XVI:1).
In addition to the main theme there
are a large number of motifs, which
allude to it in a variety of ways. One, to
the right of Paradise, shows an angel
pointing out four beasts to a kneeling
figure. The figure is the prophet Daniel
and the episode refers to his dream of
the four kingdoms ( Dan. VII). On the
opposite side, as a companion piece to
the circle of Paradise, is a somewhat
larger circle containing land and sea
and, above it, angels blowing the trumpet
of doom, an image of the earth
and sea giving up their dead.
This icon relates to a group of icons
of the same subject, all in large format,
dating from the second-half of the 15th
century to the 17th. They include icons
in the Tretyakov Gallery (inv. no 12874,
14458, 14478), in Sobor Smolenskoy
Bogomateri, Novodevichiy Monastery,
Moscow (inv. no GIM 103803/NDM
3312), the Novgorod Museum (inv. no
2824), the Hermitage (inv.no Eri–230),
the Louvre (inv. no RF 1972–46) and
Ikonen-Museum Recklinghausen
(inv. no 918)1.
To a very great extent, these images
consist of regularly recurring elements.
One unusual detail of the Nationalmuseum
icon is the three tiers of warriors
shown at the top right. These
derive entirely from the well-known
icon Tserkov Voinstvujushchaya (the
Church Militant) (Tretyakov Gallery,
inv. no 6141).2 The current opinion is
that this icon was painted following
Ivan IV’s victory over the city of Kazan
in 1552 and alludes to that victory. At
the same time the motif can also be
related to the idea, widespread at the
time, of Russia’s chosen status, as “the
new Israel”.3 In the Nationalmuseum
icon, this detail has a more specifically
apocalyptic significance.Certain differ -
ences between the two representations
can be observed: for example, the up -
permost tier of the Nationalmuseum
icon depicts the apostles in two differ -
ent situations.4 The quotation from
the icon in the Tretyakov Gallery can
assist in the dating of the Nationalmuseum
icon to no earlier than the 1550s.
Several icons in the above mention -
ed group include a great deal of text on
the actual image. The greatest abundance
of text occurs in the Nationalmuseum
copy. The palaeographic style
used here is one commonly used on
icons of the period, and it differs from
the current styles of handwriting. This
style presents clear 16th century fea -
tures. Wear and tear have made the
text very difficult to interpret.
For the reasons given above, the
suggested dating is the third-quarter of
the 16th century. Although previously
as signed to North Russia5, Central
Russia seems a likelier alternative. The
Vologda region, in between, may also
be possible. The motif as a whole, as
well as certain details, also feature in
the Novgorod tradition and it is pos -
sible that a migrant Novgorod artist
was involved.
The likeliest position for this icon
in the church would be the west wall,
traditionally associated with death and
judgement. This, in fact – more pre -
cisely the north-western corner – is the
position which the icon in Sobor
Smolenskoy Bogomateri, mentioned
above, has occupied, probably ever
since 1860. The icon may also have
been used outdoors, positioned outside
the church building, for the an -
nual Feast of the Last Judgement.6

1 Haustein 1994.
2 This motif also occurs as a separate theme on an
icon from the second-half of the 16th century in
the Moscow Kremlin museum, and futhermore
it forms part of an icon of the Last Judgement
(differently placed compared with the Nationalmuseum
icon) which has been dated to the late
16th or the 17th century and is in the Cathedral
of the Resurrection in the city of Tutayev. See
Sorokaty 1999, pp 409, 411.
3 For new interpretations of this icon see Kochetkov
1991 and Sorokaty 1999.
4 Antonova 1963, vol. 2, p 130.
5 Antiquariat; Antonova 1963, vol. 2, p 130.
6 Smirnova 1989, p 283