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| Masseot Abaquesne, The Flood French, c. 1550 Ecouen, Musée national de la Renaissance |
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of
Man.
In those days before the flood,
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage,
up to the day that Noah entered the ark.
They did not know until the flood came and
carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son
of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill;
one will be taken, and one will be left.
Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord
will come.”
Matthew
24:37-42
(Excerpt
from the Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent, Year A)
The
admonition in the Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent, Year A to “Stay
Awake! For you do not know on which day
your Lord will come” brings with it the reminder that “as it was in the days of
Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man”, people went on with their
lives, unaware of the catastrophe that was about to fall on them in the
Flood. And so it always is. We have ample evidence in contemplating the
disasters of the past and of the present.
There is abundant proof that the people of Pompeii and the other towns
at the foot of Vesuvius went about their lives right up to their burial in
layers of ash and mud. The mega tsunami
in Indonesia in 2004 caught people eating breakfast or relaxing in their hotel
pools as it crashed into them. The
Japanese earthquake and tsunami that devastated Fukushima hit when no one was
expecting it. Similarly, the recent
highly damaging earthquakes in Italy have come in the middle of the night. And we have certainly seen in our own country
the devastating effect of flood waters, with Hurricanes Katrina, Sandy and
other weather events.
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| Bonaventura Peeters, The Great Flood Dutch, c. 1630-1650 Private Collection |
If we have
no way of really preparing for and protecting ourselves from natural disasters,
there is little likelihood that we will be completely prepared for the day of
the Lord. I have always been mildly
amused by the occasional warnings that the world will end on such and such a
date. In the verse just before the start
of this Sunday’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells his disciples “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven,
nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Matthew 24:36). If He himself
does not know, how can anyone else, no matter by what means they claim the
knowledge. Consequently, it is a good
idea to heed Jesus’ warning and “Stay awake” with prayer, good works, both
physical and spiritual, and an expectant heart.
This is the message of Advent, not one of fear, but of hope and
expectation.
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| Mosaic, The Flood Italian, c. 1215-1235 Venice, Basilica of San Marco |
Images of the Flood
Over the
centuries artists have confronted this warning in several ways. They have shown us images of the final
resurrection and of the Last Judgment, but only a relative few have addressed the
central image of this Sunday’s reading, the Great Flood and the time just
before it, when the actions of humanity prompted such a violent reaction.
In this essay I am talking about images of the Flood in itself, not about the story of Noah. There are many, many images of the story of Noah, from the warning he received from God, to his struggle to build the ark. And there are many, many images showing the animals entering the ark, the ark floating in the waters, the sending of the raven and the dove, the landing on Ararat, the exit of Noah, his family and the animals from the ark and the resettlement of the earth. However, I am not referring to them directly here.
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| Jacopo Torriti, Scenes from the Old Testament, The Building of the Ark Italian, c.1290 Assisi, Basilica of San Francesco, Upper Church |
There is a
steady stream of images of the Flood itself through time, beginning in the
thirteenth century and running through time.
The earliest images seem to show the effects of the flood at its height,
as well as of Noah’s preparations. We
are shown the bodies of humans and animals floating amid the ruins of
buildings, while a few who still survive are shown trying to swim.
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| The Deluge From De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine French (Paris), c. 1400-1425 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 174, fol. 83r |
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| The Deluge From De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine French (Paris), c. 1400-1425 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 173, fol. 70v |
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| Master of Jouvenel des Ursins and collaborators, The Deluge From Mare historiarum of John of Cologne French (Anjou), c. 1447-1455 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 4915, fol. 25r |
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| Maitre de l'echevinage and collaborators, The Deluge From De Civitate Dei by St. Augustine French (Rouen). c. 1450-1475 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 28, fol. 66v |
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| Lucas Cranach the Elder and the Younger, The Flood German, c. 1531-1539 Schneeberg, St. Wolfgang's Church |
Trying to Escape
Around the
middle of the fifteenth century these images are joined by others that focus on
the attempts of the population to escape the rising waters. These pictures are often highly dramatic,
with the drama increasing markedly as time passed.
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| Anonymous, The Flood Possibly Italian, 1450-1500 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
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| Circle of Marten van Cleve the Elder, The Flood Flemish, 16th century St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Michelangelo, The Flood Italian, c. 1508-1509 Vatican City, Apostolic Palace, Sistine Chapel |
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| Jan van Scorel, The Flood Dutch, c. 1530 Madrid, Museo del Prado |
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The Flood From The Story of Noah Tapestry Series Flemish, c. 1550-1600 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| The Great Flood Tapestry Flemish, Early 17th Century St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Antonio Caracci, The Flood Italian, c.1600 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Alessandro Turchi, The Flood Italian, c.1630 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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|
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| Nicolas Poussin, Winter or the Flood French, c. 1660-1664 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
Many of these pictures, especially those from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are dramatically posed.
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| Louis Dorigny, The Flood French, 1700-1703 Venice, Palazzo Tron |
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| Mattia Bortoloni, The Flood Italian, 1717-1718 Piombino Dese, Villa Cornaro |
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| Jacopo Amigoni, The Flood Italian, 1728 Ottobeuren, Benedictine Monastery Church |
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| Jean-Baptiste Regnault, The Flood French, c.1800 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Theodore Gericault, Scene of the Flood French, c. 1800 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Phillip James de Louthebourg, The Deluge French, c. 1800 London, Victoria and Albert Museum |
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| Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson, Scene of the Flood French, c. 1806 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
After the Flood
In addition, there are a few images of the aftermath, of the wreckage of dead bodies amid the devastation of
the earth.
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| Cornelis Coneliszoon van Haarlem, After the Flood Dutch, c. 1588 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Leon Francois Comerre, The Flood French, c. 1900-1916 Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
This is the image of the Flood that appears to have struck a chord among nineteenth-century American painters.
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| Joshua Shaw, The Deluge Towards Its Close American, c. 1813 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Thomas Cole, The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge American, 1829 Washington, DC, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution |
"They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark"
Also, in the mid-sixteenth century, we begin to see images of what was
going on before the Flood. We are
looking at “In those days before the
flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying
and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered the ark. They did not know until the flood came and
carried them all away.” (Matthew
24:38-39).
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Cornelis Corneliszoon van Haarlem, Sinners Before the Flood Dutch, 1594 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Cornelis Conneliszoon van Haarlem, Humanity Before the Flood Dutch, 1615 Toulouse, Musée des Augustins |
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| Frans Floris, Banquet of the Gods Flemish, 1550 Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten |
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| Pierre Reymond, The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche French (Limoges), 1558 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Hendrick Goltzius after Bartolomeus Spranger, The Feast of the Gods at the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche Dutch, 1587 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
These continue into the middle of the
seventeenth century and then seem to peter out.
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| Cornelis Corneliszoon van Haarlem, Banquet of the Gods Dutch, 1624 Private Collection |
Ultimately, it is the
images of the Flood itself, of its terror and of its sad aftermath that took
center stage. They serve as a reminder
to us all, both for the everyday terrors of floods, fires and earthquakes and
of that ultimate event for which we should maintain our vigilance over our own
hearts.
©
M. Duffy, 2016
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