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DOI Artikel:Dobrzeniecki, Tadeusz: Tentatio Christi
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18940#0032
Tadeusz Dobrzeniecki
TENTATIO CHRISTI
In memory of my friend Jan Białostocki
The dominant effort of prcvious studies on the so-callcd Jerusalem Triptych of Gdańsk, now-
in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, has been to establish its date and origin,
its links with Netherlandish and German painting, and the role of its models in graphic art
(Fig. I).1 The work is also worthy of interest because of its iconographic programme, the method
of pictorial narration developing successively on the three obverses, and simultaneously on the
two reverses (Fig. 2).2
The original scenę of the triple Temptation stands out against the programme of the Trip-
tych.
The Temptation of Christ (tentatio), told by the three Synoptics, is a mysterious event in the
wilderness (Quarantanna), during wh-ch Jesus is approached by the Satan in visible shape,
claiming to be an angel of light, with the intention of penetrating the secret of his personality
and dissuading him from his Messiaaic mission conferred upon him at the moment of the Baptism
in the River Jordan.
The goal of the Temptation, repeatcd three times, was to make Jesus abuse his Messianic
power for personal purposes and satisfy hungcr by turning Stones into bread; aspire after vain
glory or show impudent trust by throwing himself down the Tempie roof; and appease greed
for power by accepting the kingdoms of the world.
Jesus, a second and perfect Adam, resists the Temptation, determined to fulfil his mission,
conferred upon him by Gad the Father, which task implies obedience and self-denial. He com-
pletes his mission on the Cross in another battle with the Tempter, and thus seals his victory
over the Satan. The Temptation of the sinless Jesus could be only external. St. Thomas Aqui-
nas uses the wording externa suggestio.
The First Temptation (Mt IV, 4—11): 'Jesus ductus est in desertam a Spiritu,
ut tentaretur a diabolo. Et cum ieiunasset ąuadraginta diebus, et ąuadraginta noctibus, postea
esuriit. Et accedens tentator dixit: Si filius Dei es, dic ut lapides isti panes fiant. Qui respondens
dixit: Scriptum est: Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo, ąuod procedit de ore Dei'.
1. T. Dobrzeniecki, Ths Catalogue of Mediaeval'Pa'inting, National Museum, Warsaw, 1977, No. 48: Jerosolimian Triptycfam,
pp.176—182, Fig. 48 (biblio grapuy) ; A. Labuda.,,Dzieła tworzone w Gdańsku w II polowie XV i w początkach XVI wieku"
(Works Created in Gdańsk in the Second Half of the 15th and the Early lóth Century) in Malarstwo gotyckie na Pomorzu
Wscliodnim (Golhic Painting in Eas! Pomerania), Warszawa—Poznań, 1990, pp. 135—138, Figs. 53, 54. .jfŁ ■
■2. T. Dobrzeniecki,„Sukcesywny i symultaniczny program narracji w gdańskim Tryptyku Jerozolimskim'' (Successive
and Simultaneous Narration Programme in the jcruaalem Triptych of Gdańsk), Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w ITar-
siatcie (National Museum in Warsaw's Ycarbook), 1991 (in the press). XXXIII_XXXIV, 1989/90, p. 139—225.
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TENTATIO CHRISTI
In memory of my friend Jan Białostocki
The dominant effort of prcvious studies on the so-callcd Jerusalem Triptych of Gdańsk, now-
in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, has been to establish its date and origin,
its links with Netherlandish and German painting, and the role of its models in graphic art
(Fig. I).1 The work is also worthy of interest because of its iconographic programme, the method
of pictorial narration developing successively on the three obverses, and simultaneously on the
two reverses (Fig. 2).2
The original scenę of the triple Temptation stands out against the programme of the Trip-
tych.
The Temptation of Christ (tentatio), told by the three Synoptics, is a mysterious event in the
wilderness (Quarantanna), during wh-ch Jesus is approached by the Satan in visible shape,
claiming to be an angel of light, with the intention of penetrating the secret of his personality
and dissuading him from his Messiaaic mission conferred upon him at the moment of the Baptism
in the River Jordan.
The goal of the Temptation, repeatcd three times, was to make Jesus abuse his Messianic
power for personal purposes and satisfy hungcr by turning Stones into bread; aspire after vain
glory or show impudent trust by throwing himself down the Tempie roof; and appease greed
for power by accepting the kingdoms of the world.
Jesus, a second and perfect Adam, resists the Temptation, determined to fulfil his mission,
conferred upon him by Gad the Father, which task implies obedience and self-denial. He com-
pletes his mission on the Cross in another battle with the Tempter, and thus seals his victory
over the Satan. The Temptation of the sinless Jesus could be only external. St. Thomas Aqui-
nas uses the wording externa suggestio.
The First Temptation (Mt IV, 4—11): 'Jesus ductus est in desertam a Spiritu,
ut tentaretur a diabolo. Et cum ieiunasset ąuadraginta diebus, et ąuadraginta noctibus, postea
esuriit. Et accedens tentator dixit: Si filius Dei es, dic ut lapides isti panes fiant. Qui respondens
dixit: Scriptum est: Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo, ąuod procedit de ore Dei'.
1. T. Dobrzeniecki, Ths Catalogue of Mediaeval'Pa'inting, National Museum, Warsaw, 1977, No. 48: Jerosolimian Triptycfam,
pp.176—182, Fig. 48 (biblio grapuy) ; A. Labuda.,,Dzieła tworzone w Gdańsku w II polowie XV i w początkach XVI wieku"
(Works Created in Gdańsk in the Second Half of the 15th and the Early lóth Century) in Malarstwo gotyckie na Pomorzu
Wscliodnim (Golhic Painting in Eas! Pomerania), Warszawa—Poznań, 1990, pp. 135—138, Figs. 53, 54. .jfŁ ■
■2. T. Dobrzeniecki,„Sukcesywny i symultaniczny program narracji w gdańskim Tryptyku Jerozolimskim'' (Successive
and Simultaneous Narration Programme in the jcruaalem Triptych of Gdańsk), Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w ITar-
siatcie (National Museum in Warsaw's Ycarbook), 1991 (in the press). XXXIII_XXXIV, 1989/90, p. 139—225.
21