Encountering Adam and Eve at the Apocalypse

Abstract

This essay deals with Jan Sanders van Hemessen’s Last Judgment of 1537-1539. This triptych was commissioned by Adriaan Rockox and his wife for their family chapel in Saint James’s church in Antwerp. As mentioned above, altarpieces – mostly triptychs – are prominent examples of art made for the purpose of remembrance in the Catholic tradition. They served to stimulate contemplation of death and afterlife, as well as prayer for the salvation of the dead. Van Hemessen, no doubt in concordance with the wishes of his patrons, enhances this purpose by taking the Last Judgment for the subject of the central panel. According to Stinebring, his representation is one of ‘hopeful anticipation’, particularly of the entire corporeal or fleshly. The central scene differs from traditional renderings in several respects. Out of the ordinary and literally eye-catching, due to their size and sensual anatomy, are a number of nudes, both male and female, damned and blessed, that dominate the foreground.