Historiated Title Page
Author: Marcel, Guillaume, 1647-1708
Image Title: Historiated Title Page
Scripture Reference:
- Psalms 110 (further images / scripture text)
- Revelation 20 (further images / scripture text)
Description: This title page illustrating the history of the state of the church in the East (Orient) and West (Occident) is governed by the reproduction of Psalm 110:6 at the bottom, which reads JUDICABIT IN NATIONIBUS, IMPLEBIT RUINAS : CONQUAS- SABIT CAPITA IN TERRA MULTORUM (“He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth”). A drawn curtain on the right side of the frame reveals a saintly figure descending from the sky, followed by a dove representing the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. The androgynous figure wears a veil and a three-crowned papal Tiara topped with a nimbus. The saint holds a cross, two keys (typically of the Apostle Peter), and a glowing chalice (typical of the Virgin Mary in iconography). The base of the cross crushes the head of a fire-breathing dragon, symbolic of the triumph over Satan also accomplished by the Revelation angel with keys to the bottomless pit (Revelation 20). Arrow-headed rays hailing from the chalice point to figures who have fallen or are falling from the sky, the uppermost of whom appears to be Lucifer cast down from heaven. Two open books lie on and around the fallen figures, and one man holds up a mask from his position on the floor. A window in the background reveals a silhouette of a man hanging from a noose on a tree, most likely Judas Iscariot after his betrayal of Jesus. Below the platform onto which the saintly figure descends are parties on two sides: the western Roman Catholic religious authorities on the right and the Eastern Orthodox priests on the left, both of whom gaze at the spectacle in the center of the frame.
Click here for additional images available from this book.
Request a high-resolution file (fees apply)
Rights Statement: The online edition of this work in the public domain, i.e., not protected by copyright, has been produced by Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.
Rights Status: No Copyright - United States
Pitts Theology Library provides copyright information as a courtesy and makes no representation about copyright or other legal status of materials in the Digital Image Archive.