DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62133#0041
THE STUDIO OF WILHELM VON KAULBACH.
25
sword; an old man, with a venerable white beard, sits in a
stupor of despair,—his hand listlessly grasps a long sword,
and he leans against golden vases upheaped with gold,
jewels, and long strings of pearls. The left group consists
of the Wandering Jew, driven forth by three demons,
whose livid brows are wreathed with knotted snakes, and the
whips in whose hands are snakes likewise. Forth rushes
he, lacerating his naked breast, a type of modern Judaism,
and undying remorse : thus connecting the historical part
of the Destruction of Jerusalem with the prophecy of
Christ, in which the Destruction of Jerusalem is made a
symbol of the Last Judgment, etc.
Three gracious angels, bearing aloft a golden dial ice
encircled with a glory, the mystic sign of Christian faith,
conduct a group of Christians forth from the devoted city.
This is the right hand group. A beautiful and gentle
woman, seated upon an ass, presses lovely smiling twins to
her breast a shadow of foreboding rests on her sweet
face, for in her hand she bears the martyr’s palm. Behind
her, on the ass, sits a boy of some seven years old, and
passes through her arm a little hand which holds a branch
heavy with golden fruit: his large brown eyes are full of
eagerness, his lips are parted, he beckons to his three little
playmates, who kneel, imploring to be taken along with
the Christians. Two are lovely children,—a boy with curl-
ing fair locks, a girl with thick dark plaited tresses, while
between them kneels a little, yellow, naked boy; all three
raise beseeching hands and weeping eyes towards the de-
parting Christians. The nearest angel waves his hand with
a look of love ineffable—they shall depart also ! probably
also to win the martyr’s crown. See those graceful youths
who conduct the ass, on which rides the mother, and a
second ass ridden by the father, who chants a hymn of
praise to God from the book open in his hand, and by the
white-headed grandfather. All bear palm branches. Yet
25
sword; an old man, with a venerable white beard, sits in a
stupor of despair,—his hand listlessly grasps a long sword,
and he leans against golden vases upheaped with gold,
jewels, and long strings of pearls. The left group consists
of the Wandering Jew, driven forth by three demons,
whose livid brows are wreathed with knotted snakes, and the
whips in whose hands are snakes likewise. Forth rushes
he, lacerating his naked breast, a type of modern Judaism,
and undying remorse : thus connecting the historical part
of the Destruction of Jerusalem with the prophecy of
Christ, in which the Destruction of Jerusalem is made a
symbol of the Last Judgment, etc.
Three gracious angels, bearing aloft a golden dial ice
encircled with a glory, the mystic sign of Christian faith,
conduct a group of Christians forth from the devoted city.
This is the right hand group. A beautiful and gentle
woman, seated upon an ass, presses lovely smiling twins to
her breast a shadow of foreboding rests on her sweet
face, for in her hand she bears the martyr’s palm. Behind
her, on the ass, sits a boy of some seven years old, and
passes through her arm a little hand which holds a branch
heavy with golden fruit: his large brown eyes are full of
eagerness, his lips are parted, he beckons to his three little
playmates, who kneel, imploring to be taken along with
the Christians. Two are lovely children,—a boy with curl-
ing fair locks, a girl with thick dark plaited tresses, while
between them kneels a little, yellow, naked boy; all three
raise beseeching hands and weeping eyes towards the de-
parting Christians. The nearest angel waves his hand with
a look of love ineffable—they shall depart also ! probably
also to win the martyr’s crown. See those graceful youths
who conduct the ass, on which rides the mother, and a
second ass ridden by the father, who chants a hymn of
praise to God from the book open in his hand, and by the
white-headed grandfather. All bear palm branches. Yet