XX Je Jugement

Nearing the end of the road.

This is the only card in the deck that relies exclusively on a Biblical source. As such, it can be viewed as a pictorial sermon based on "Revelation."

One of the most interesting versions is the earliest: the Cary-Yale's Judgment shows two angels rather than one; both carry trumpets but only the one on the left blows his instrument. Also, both are possibly carrying chains, alluded to in Revelation 20:1:

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand."

At the bottom of the scene a man has already risen from the grave and stands on the ground behind it, while a woman is in the act of rising. A clothed figure in the background might represent Jesus. An interesting detail is the tower standing prominently on the right margin of the picture, all the more interesting because no tower card from this deck has ever been found.

The Visconti-Sforza deck likewise features two angels. After that, artists seem to have adopted the standard pictorial device of one angel, blowing his trumpet down at the rising dead from directly above. Presumably this is the Angel Gabriel. I don't recall seeing any variations on this standard tableau until modern times.

The dead, of course, are on their way to judgment:

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged... (Rev. 20:12-13).

This is the end of the trump sequence and the end of time, and might lead one to conclude that the card which follows represents not the world we live in, but "...a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away..." (Rev 21:1). If this is true, is there a card that represents the world we live in now? My guess would be that card is X La Rove.

In some early decks, such as deluxe hand-painted cards from Bologna, Judgment came last and the World was in the 20th position. In some of the extremely crude Italian woodblock decks from the same period, Judgment was 19, Justice was 20, and the World was 21. But in Marseilles decks and others that follow the sequence established by the Marseilles tradition, I have never seen Judgment anywhere except at 20.

I have always associated the Judgment card, not only with Revelation, but also with 1 Corinthians 15:51-53:

Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

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This is the sense, I think, behind the occasional reordering of the trumps to Judgment - Justice - World. In this order, Justice is no longer one of the cardinal virtues; Justice represents the summons before the great white throne of God in Rev. 20-11 et. seq.

This represents some confusion. It seems unlikely that Justice, the traditional allegorical figure on that trump, is meant as the throne of God. The usual depiction of the judge at that throne is Christ as Pantocrator. The scene of Christ as Judge of the dead, with the blessed dead on His right hand and the damned on His left, is sculpted on many Romanesque church tympani. Despite the religious subjects of these cards, it seems unlikely that anyone would be so bold as to put a picture of Christ Himself on a playing card.

Fundamentalist Christians argue endlessly among themselves about the exact order of the events set forth in the closing chapter of Revelations, and how they mesh with the passages of 1 Corinthians and others. The Revelation judgment seems to refer to events that happen long after the resurrection of the blessed dead in 1 Corinthians.

The raising of the blessed dead suggests to me the key to the interpretation of the card. At the summons of the trumpet blast, the blessed dead are not only revived, but changed as well. Their corruption is exchanged for incorruptibility; their mortality for immortality. They have not only been brought back to life, they have been improved in every way.

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Diana said:

Now what I have read about the iconography of this Judgement card is this. The first representations of the Last Judgement appeared round the year 1000. They were perfected in the 12th and 13th centuries, in cathedrals in France and Germany (Köln). On all these images, the dead rose naked from their tombs.

This is quite interesting, because it is unlikely (well, sounds odd to me) that people were buried naked in those days.

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My understanding is that this depiction is in fact right according to the theology as it would have been understood in those times. The blessed dead who rise from their graves at the trumpet's call have exchanged their corruptible mortal bodies for incorruptible, eternal ones. So they aren't going to be skeletons. Whether they are going to be raised in incorruptible clothes or not is not said. Presumably they're all immune from inappropriate lusts, purified like Adam and Eve before the Fall, so they're at least allowed to go around naked.

I don't know if the Angel is Gabriel or not. What exactly is Gabriel's function?

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It's Gabriel's job to make various divine announcements. He makes his first appearance in the book of Daniel, where he interprets Daniel's visions [Daniel 8:16 - 9:27]. He is the angel of the Annunciation; he announced the births of John the Baptist and Jesus [Luke 1:11-38]. Gabriel and Michael are AFAIK the only angels named by name in the Bible. Christian folklore has assigned to Gabriel the role of last trumpeter, but it makes sense given Gabriel's role as the divine announcer. Michael is mentioned mostly as a divine warrior [Jude 9, Daniel 10, Rev. 12]

Here's a link to Gislebertus's image of the Last Judgment from the Romanesque cathedral at Autun. Above and to Jesus' right, you see the saved in their robes and haloes. In the far left, you see Satan grimacing and the damned souls in chaos.

Above, to the left, angels guard the gates to Heaven with a giant key. Below to the left, you see the depiction of the mouth of Hell which was one traditional interepretation of Le Maison Dieu.

I have a depiction, somewhere misplaced, which shows Christ within the visica piscis (similar to the one given in the link by ihcoyc above - and which occurs upon numerous cathedrals) below whom a clear depiction of an angel with either a single or double horn/trumpet calls up, or awakens, those from the grave.

It is as if the picture I am referring to - which I hope to find and post - combines, or pre-empts, both this card and XXI.

As ihcoyc mentions, this carrion blast certainly awakens those in the grave(s), as per 1 Corinthians 15:44-54. The translation given, however, significantly differs from the more 'pure' translation of the New Jerusalem Bible (I know, the language of the King James translation is so much more poetic!). Also, because of its importance for some brief comments I will then make, I begin the quote earlier than previously given:

44] If there is a natural body, there is a spiritual body too.

45] So the first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul*; and the last Adam [ie, Christ] has become a life-giving spirit.

[* textual note: 'something that is alive because it has a psyche giving it a merely natural life, subject to decay and corruption']

46] But first came the natural body, not the spiritual one; that came only afterwards.

47] The first man, being made of earth, is earthly by nature; the second man is from heaven.

48] The earthly man is a pattern for earthly people, the heavenly one for heavenly ones.

49] And as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so we shall [or 'we would be able to'] bear the likeness of the heavenly one.

50] What I am saying, brothers, is that mere human nature cannot inherit the kingdom of God: what is perishable cannot inherit what is imperishable.

51] Now I am going to tell you a mystery: we are not all going to fall asleep,

52] but we are all going to be changed, instantly, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet is going to sound, and then the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed,

53] because this perishable nature of ours must put on imperishability, this mortal nature must put on immortality.

54] And after this perishable nature has put on imperishability and this mortal nature has put on immortality, then will the words of scripture come true: Death is swallowed up in Victory.

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Here we get an inclination that it is the imperishable which is called forth from the grave - an aspect very much akin to the precepts of initiation.

Line 51 makes this even clearer, for often, when mention is made of a 'mystery' being revealed or spoken, an initiatory secret is possibly revealed - and what better description than the one given in this part of 1 Corinthians!

For me, there is very much as aspect of this initiatory awakening which is implied by the card. It is also quite interesting that in Marseilles depictions, the more common image is that only the central, and maybe child-like, figure emerges from a sarcophagus, the other two 'attendants' focussed upon this figure, only the one being awoken ambiguously seeming to focus upwards towards the trumpet blast of the Angelic being.

Like the two earlier cards in the series, this one too often has droplets, in this case often rising towards the heavens - the dew (ros) of the initiate... or am I just reading too much here!?!

Attached is the (restored) 1650 Noblet version.

soprafino

kaz

visconti sforza

kaz

cary yale visconti

kaz

The colouration of the three figures Conver makes is, I think, more significant than, for example, the Grimaud version.

Like the Dodal of 1701, the Conver's central figure is not flesh coloured, as you wouldn't expect if emerging from the grave. The blue colouration may very well depict death - but as the figure is obviously 'living', it can also depict the life of the Spirit, called forth by the clarion call.

Attached, then, is the 1760 Conver version of XX Le Jugement.