Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem

Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem

 

Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem

 

Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem

 

Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem

 

New Jerusalem Tabernacle of God Holy City City of God Celestial City Heavenly Jerusalem Jerusalem above Zion Shining City on a Hill
Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem
John of Patmos watches the descent of New Jerusalem from God in a 14th century tapestry.
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The New Jerusalem and the River of Life (Apocalypse XII), Beatus de Facundus, 1047

In the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, New Jerusalem(יְהוָה שָׁמָּה‬, Jehovah-shammah,^[1] or YHWH [is] there ») is Ezekiel‘s prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple, the Third Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the capital of the Messianic Kingdom, the meeting place of the twelve tribes of Israel, during the Messianic era.^[2][3][4]The prophecy is recorded by Ezekiel as having been received on Yom Kippur of the year 3372 of the Hebrew calendar.^[5] It will be inhabited by people to live eternally in spirit form, created by God as a gift to mankind. Not everyone will reside in New Jerusalem, as most will possibly stay on Earth.

In the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, the city is also called the Heavenly Jerusalem, as well as being called Zion in other books of the Christian Bible.^{[citation needed]}

Judaism and origin

See also: Babylonian captivity

The Babylonian threat to the Kingdom of Judah began as the Babylonian Empire conquered Assyria and rose to power from 612-609 BCE. Jerusalem surrendered without major bloodshed to Babylon in 597. An Israelite uprising brought the destruction of Nebuchadnezzar’s army upon Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The entire city, including the First Temple, was burned. Israelite aristocrats were taken captive to Babylon.

The Book of Ezekiel contains the first record of the New Jerusalem. Within Ezekiel 40-48, there is an extended and detailed description of the measurements of the Temple, its chambers, porticos, and walls. Ezekiel 48:30-35 contains a list of twelve Temple gates named for Israel’s tribes.

The Book of Zechariah^[6] expands upon Ezekiel’s New Jerusalem. After the Second Temple was built after the exile, Jerusalem’s population was only a few hundred. There were no defensive city walls until 445 BCE.^[7] In the passage, the author writes about a city wall of fire to protect the enormous population. This text demonstrates the beginning of a progression of New Jerusalem thought. In Ezekiel, the focus is primarily on the human act of Temple construction. In Zechariah, the focus shifts to God’s intercession in the founding of New Jerusalem.

New Jerusalem is further extrapolated in Isaiah,^[8] where New Jerusalem is adorned with precious sapphires, jewels, and rubies. The city is described as a place free from terror and full of righteousness. Here, Isaiah provides an example of Jewish apocalypticism, where a hope for a perfected Jerusalem and freedom from oppression is revealed.

As the original New Jerusalem composition, Ezekiel functioned as a source for later works such as 4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, Qumran documents, and the Book of Revelation. These texts used similar measurement language and expanded on the limited eschatological perspective in Ezekiel.

Interpretation

Judaism sees the Messiah as a human male descendant of King David who will be anointed as the king of Israel and sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem. He will gather in the lost tribes of Israel, clarify unresolved issues of halakha, and rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem according to the pattern shown to the prophet Ezekiel. During this time Jews believe an era of global peace and prosperity will be initiated, the nations will love Israel and will abandon their gods, turn toward Jerusalem, and come to the Holy Temple to worship the one God of Israel. Zechariah prophesied that any family among the nations who does not appear in the Temple in Jerusalem for the festival of Sukkoth will have no rain that year. Isaiah prophesied that the rebuilt Temple will be a house of prayer for all nations. The city of YHWH Shamma, the new Jerusalem, will be the gathering point of the world’s nations, and will serve as the capital of the renewed Kingdom of Israel. Ezekiel prophesied that this city will have 12 gates, one gate for each of the tribes of Israel. The book of Isaiah closes with the prophecy « And it will come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before Me, says YHWH« .

Antiochene Persecutions, Hasmonean High Priesthood

The Animal Apocalypse within 1 Enoch (chapters 85-90), is another example where conflict sparks hopes for the New Jerusalem. First Enoch is an apocalyptic response to the persecutions under Seleucid Emperor Antiochus IV. In 167 BCE, Emperor Antiochus returned from fighting in Egypt to quell a revolt in Jerusalem led by Jason, the former High Priest. An agitated Antiochus imposed harsh restrictions on Jewish religion. Circumcision, feast celebration, Sabbath observance were all banned. Antiochus ordered the burning of Torah copies. Jews were required to eat pork. The worst oppression came in the desecration of the Temple. A polytheistic cult was formed, and worship of YHWH abolished. A statue to a Seleucid deity was constructed on the Jewish altar.

First Enoch was written in the wake of this calamity between 166 BCE-163 BCE. For the author of 1 Enoch, history is a steep descent into evil from the utopia in Eden. The author’s vision of the eschaton centers on the restoration of Jerusalem: “I saw until the owner of the sheep brought a house, new and larger and loftier than the former” (1 Enoch 90:29). In this New Jerusalem passage, the sheep are the Jewish people, the builder is the Lord, and the House is the Temple. During the same time period, the Dead Sea scrolls contain a New Jerusalem tradition formed out of strife. As a tiny Jewish sect living in the caves of Qumran, the Essenes opposed Temple leadership and the High Priesthood in Jerusalem. Their condemnation of the Temple focused on criticizing High Priests. They were also frustrated that Judean Kings were also given the role of High Priest.^{[dubious – discuss]}The Essenes were not against the institution of the Temple and its cult per se. The Essenes at Qumran predicted the reunified twelve tribes to rise together against Roman occupation and incompetent Temple leadership and re-establish true Temple worship.

The surviving New Jerusalem texts in Qumran literature focus specifically on the twelve city gates, and on the dimensions of the entire new city. In 4Q554, the gates of Simeon, Joseph, and Reuben are mentioned in this partial fragment. For the author of this fragment, the New Jerusalem’s twelve gates signify the reunification of the twelve tribes of Israel. In 5Q15, the author accompanies an angel who measures the blocks, houses, gates, avenues, streets, dining halls, and stairs of the New Jerusalem. There are two important points to consider regarding the Qumran Essenes. First, we do not have enough scroll fragments to completely analyze their New Jerusalem ideologies. Second, based on the evidence available, the Essenes rebelled against Temple leadership, not the Temple itself. Their vision of the New Jerusalem looked for the reunification of the twelve tribes around an eschatological Temple.

4 Ezra, 2 Baruch, 3 Baruch

As evidenced above, the historical progression of New Jerusalem language is specifically tied to conflict. The Babylonian Exile, Antiochene persecutions, and corrupt leadership in Jerusalem incited apocalyptic responses with a vision for a New Jerusalem. In the 1st century CE, an even greater conflict exploded in Iudaea province; the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, as well as the other Roman-Jewish Wars. Subsequent apocalyptic responses fundamentally altered the New Jerusalem eschatology for Jews and Early Christians.

At the core, apocalypses are a form of theodicy. They respond to overwhelming suffering with the hope of divine intercession and a perfected World to Come. The destruction of the Second Temple in 70 meant an end to Second Temple Judaism. Naturally, apocalyptic responses to the disaster followed. This section will first cover 4 Ezraand 2 Baruch. Fourth Ezra and 2 Baruch are important for two reasons. First, they look for a Temple in Heaven, not the eschaton. Second, these texts exhibit the final new Temple texts in Judaism. Jewish texts like 3 Baruch began to reject a restored Temple completely. However, these texts were deemed to be apocryphal by the Rabbis who maintained the belief in a Third Temple as central to Rabbinic Judaism.

The Jewish apocalypse of 4 Ezra is a text contained in the apocryphal book 2 Esdras. The genre of 4 Ezra is historical fiction, set thirteen years after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. Fourth Ezra is dated approximately in 83 CE, thirteen years after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. The story follows Ezra’s period of mourning following Jerusalem’s fall. Ezra is Job-like in his criticism of God’s allowance of Jerusalem’s downfall.

In Ezra’s deep state of grief, he meets a woman lamenting over Jerusalem. Ezra consoles the woman, and tells her to, “shake off your great sadness, and lay aside your many sorrows… the Most High may give you rest.” (4 Ezra 10:24). Suddenly, the woman is transfigured in an array of bright lights. She transforms into the New Jerusalem being rebuilt. As a bereaved widow she convinced Ezra to apply solace to himself through the image of a New Jerusalem.

Fourth Ezra has two clear messages. First, do not grieve excessively over Jerusalem. Second, Jerusalem will be restored as a heavenly kingdom. Fourth Ezra also uses the title “Most High,” throughout the apocalypse to emphasis that the Lord will once again reign and reside in Jerusalem.

The apocalypse of 2 Baruch is a contemporary narrative of 4 Ezra. The text also follows the same basic structure 4 Ezra: Job-like grief, animosity towards the Lord, and the rectification of Jerusalem that leads to the comfort of the Job-figure. Second Baruch is historical fiction, written after the Roman destruction but set before the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians.

Baruch is distressed when the Lord informs him of Jerusalem’s impending doom. Baruch responds with several theological questions for God. For this study, Baruch’s inquiry about the future of Israel and the honor of the Lord are most pertinent (2 Baruch 3:4-6). Baruch learns that the Lord will destroy the city, not the enemy. Baruch also learns of a pre-immanent heavenly Temple: “[The Temple] was already prepared from the moment I decided to create paradise.” And I showed it to Adam before he sinned.” (2 Baruch 4:3). This Temple was created before Adam, and shown to him before Adam’s fall.

Two important conclusions come from 2 Baruch. First, the author dismisses hopes for an earthly re-built Temple. The focus is entirely on the heavenly Temple that pre-dated the Garden of Eden. This may be a device to express the supremacy of the heavenly Temple as a sanctuary built before Eden (the traditional location of the earthly Temple). Second, Baruch believes that restoration for the people of Israel exists in heaven, not on earth.

The apocalypse of 3 Baruch is the anomaly among post-revolt New Jerusalem texts. Unlike 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra, the text exemplifies an alternative tradition that lacks a restored Temple. Like other apocalypses, 3 Baruch still mourns over the Temple, and re-focuses Jews to the heavens. Yet 3 Baruch finds that the Temple is ultimately unnecessary. This move could be polemical against works which afforded the Temple with excessive veneration. In the passage, an angel comes to Baruch and consoles him over Jerusalem: “Where is their God? And behold as I was weeping and saying such things, I saw an angel of the Lord coming and saying to me: Understand, O man, greatly beloved, and trouble not thyself so greatly concerning the salvation of Jerusalem.” (3 Baruch 1:3)

Third Baruch certainly mourns over the Temple. Yet 3 Baruch is not ultimately concerned with the lack of a Temple. This text goes along with Jeremiah and Sibylline Oracles 4 to express a minority tradition within Jewish literature. In the first Christian apocalypse, the Book of Revelation coincides with this perspective on Jerusalem. The study will now move to early Christian perspectives on the Temple and the apocalyptic response in Revelation.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Christianity

See also: Jewish Christianity and Jerusalem in Christianity

Since Christianity originated from Judaism, the history of Jewish places of worship and the currents of thought in ancient Judaism described above served in part as the basis for the development of the Christian conception of the New Jerusalem. Christians have always placed religious significance on Jerusalem as the site of The Crucifixion and other events central to the Christian faith.

In particular, the destruction of the Second Temple that took place in the year 70, a few decades after Christianity began its split from Judaism, was seminal to the nascent Christian apocalypticism of that time. In the Olivet discourse of the Gospels, Jesus predicts the destruction of Herod’s Temple, and promises that it will precede the return of the Son of Man, commonly called the Second Coming. This prophecy of the renewal of Jerusalem by the messiah echoes those of the Jewish prophets. John of Patmos‘ vision of the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation draws on the Olivet discourse and all the historical precursors mentioned above.

Based on the Book of Revelation, premillennialism holds that, following the end times and the second creation of heaven and earth (see The New Earth), the New Jerusalem will be the earthly location where all true believers will spend eternity with God. The New Jerusalem is not limited to eschatology, however. Many Christians view the New Jerusalem as a current reality, that the New Jerusalem is the consummation of the Body of Christ, the Church and that Christians already take part in membership of both the heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly Church in a kind of dual citizenship.^[17] In this way, the New Jerusalem represents to Christians the final and everlasting reconciliation of God and His chosen people, « the end of the Christian pilgrimage. »^[17] As such, the New Jerusalem is a conception of Heaven, see also Heaven (Christianity).

Interpretation

Christianity interprets the city as a physical and/or spiritual restoration or divine recreation of the city of Jerusalem. It is also interpreted by many Christian groups as referring to the Church to be the dwelling place of the saints.

John of Patmos describes the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation in the Christian Bible, and so the New Jerusalem holds an important place in Christian eschatology and Christian mysticism, and has also influenced Christian philosophy and Christian theology. Such a renewal of Jerusalem, if a reconstruction, is an important theme in Judaism, Christianity, and the Bahá’í Faith. Renewed Jerusalem bears as its motto the words Ad librum (Latin: « as by the book ».)

Many traditions based on biblical scripture and other writings in the Jewish and Christian religions, such as Protestantism, and Orthodox Judaism, expect the literal renewal of Jerusalem to some day take place at the Temple Mount in accordance with various prophecies. Dispensationalists believe in a literal New Jerusalem that will come down out of Heaven, which will be an entirely new city of incredible dimensions. Other sects, such as various Protestant denominations, modernist branches of Christianity, Mormonism and Reform Judaism, view the New Jerusalem as figurative, or believe that such a renewal may have already taken place, or that it will take place at some other location besides the Temple Mount.

It is important to distinguish between « the camp of the saints, and the beloved city » spoken of in Revelation 20:9, and the New Jerusalem of chapter 21. Rev. 20:9 refers to an earthly City, description and purpose of which is found in book of Ezekiel, starting with chapter 36 and ending with chapter 48. One of the most obvious differences is, the dimensions of the New Jerusalem of Rev. 21 are 1000 times bigger than dimensions of the city in Ezekiel 48 (and in Rev. 20:9) New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 is 2225 km. in length, width, and height, a city of these gigantic proportions can not be located on this earth, but as stated in ch. 21 comes down from heaven on to the new earth.

The Book of Revelation

Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem

Folio 55r of the Bamberg Apocalypse depicts the angel showing John the New Jerusalem, with the Lamb of God at its center.

Introduction to the City

The term New Jerusalemoccurs twice in the New Testament, in verses Rev 3:12 and Rev 21:2 of the Book of Revelation. A large portion of the final two chapters of Revelation deals with John of Patmos’ vision of the New Jerusalem. He describes the New Jerusalem as « ‘the bride, the wife of the Lamb' », where the river of the Water of Life flows (22:1).

After John witnesses the new heaven and a new earth « that no longer has any sea », an angel takes him « in the Spirit » to a vantage point on « a great and high mountain » to see New Jerusalem’s descendants. The enormous city comes out of heaven down to the New Earth. John’s elaborate description of the New Jerusalem retains many features of the Garden of Eden and the paradise garden, such as rivers, a square shape, a wall, and the Tree of Life.

Description of the City

According to John, the New Jerusalem is « pure gold, like clear glass » and its « brilliance [is] like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. » The street of the city is also made of « pure gold, like transparent glass ». The base of the city is laid out in a square and surrounded by a wall made of jasper. It says in Revelation 21:16 that the height, length, and width are of equal dimensions – as it was with the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and First Temple – and they measure 12,000 furlongs (which is approximately 1500.3 miles, or 1 furlong = approx 220 yards). John writes that the wall is 144 cubits, which is assumed to be the thickness since the length is mentioned previously. 144 cubits are about equal to 65 meters, or 72 yards. It is important to note that 12 is the square root of 144. The number 12 was very important to early Jews and Christians, and represented the 12 tribes of Israel and 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ. The four sides of the New City represent the four cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West.) In this way, New Jerusalem is thought of as an inclusive place, with the 12 gates accepting all of the 12 tribes of Israel from all corners of the earth.

There is no temple building in the New Jerusalem. God and the Lamb are the city’s temple, since they are worshiped everywhere. Revelation 22 goes on to describe a river of the water of life that flows down the middle of the great street of the city from the Throne of God. The tree of life grows in the middle of the street and to both sides of the river. The tree bears twelve (kinds of) fruit and yields its fruit every month. According to John, « The leaves of the tree were for healing (those of all) nations. » This inclusion of the tree of life in the New Jerusalem harkens back to the Garden of Eden. The fruit the tree bears may be the fruit of life.

John states that the New Jerusalem will be free of sin. The servants of God will have theosis (i.e. the power or likeness of God, that is « in his image » of holiness) and « His name will be on their foreheads. » Night will no longer fall, and the inhabitants of the city will « have need (of) no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. » John ends his account of the New Jerusalem by stressing its eternal nature: « And they shall reign forever and ever. »

Gates[edit]

There are twelve (12) gates hanging from the wall of the New City of Jerusalem. These 12 gates are oriented in groups of three and face the four cardinal directions of the compass needle: the north, south, east and west. There is an angel at each gate, residing in a gatehouse. The 12 gates are each made of a ‘single’ pearl, giving these the name « pearly gates« . The names of the twelve tribes of Israel are written on the 12 gates.

The New Jerusalem gates may bear some relation to the gates mentioned in Enoch, Chapters 33 – 35, where the prophet, Enoch reports that from each of the four « heavenly gates – opening in heaven – three (new gates) were seen distinctly separating (off, as if) the extremities of the whole earth » [were pulling apart each of the four gates into three new ones]. Thus, the four gates were each replaced by three new ones, totaling twelve [i.e. 3 x 4 = 12] gates in all. [33, 3.][ref. Laurence translation, Book of Enoch.]

Geometry

Giacobbe Giusti, New Jerusalem

The angel measures the New Jerusalem with the rod or reed. Note the Lamb of God and the twelve sets of figures, gates, and stones.

In 21:16, the angel measures the city with a golden rod or reed, and records it as 12,000 stadia by 12,000 stadia at the base, and 12,000 stadia high. A stadion is usually stated as 185 meters, or 607 feet, so the base has dimensions of about 2220 km by 2220 km, or 1380 miles by 1380 miles. In the ancient Greek system of measurement, the base of the New Jerusalem would have been equal to 144 million square stadia, 4.9 million square kilometers or 1.9 million square miles (roughly midway between the sizes of Australia and India). If rested on the Earth, its ceiling would be inside the upper boundary of the exosphere but outside the lower boundary.^[18] By way of comparison, the International Space Station maintains an orbit with an altitude of about 386 km (240 mi) above the earth.^[19]

Revelation 21:22

The Book of Revelation was composed during the end of the 1st century AD, sometime during the later end of the reign of Emperor Nero Domitius (54 to 68 CE). The work is addressed to the “seven churches that are in Asia” (1:4). Revelation is normally broken into three sections: the prologue (1:1-3:22), the visions (4:1-22:5), and the epilogue (22:6-20). This study is principally concerned with chapter 21.

The author of Revelation was both a Jew by birth and a believing Christian. For the author and the addressees of Revelation, they are searching for the Lord to vindicate them and judge the “inhabitants of the earth,” for their suffering (6:10). The fall of Jerusalem coupled with the Neronian persecutions form the tension within the subtext of Revelation.

Throughout Revelation, several references to the Temple are made REV 3:12,7:15,11:19,14:15,16:1. This Temple appears to be of heavenly origin. When the eschaton arrives in REV 21:1, the reader expects the temple to come down from heaven with the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21 even contains typical New Jerusalem terminology that accompanies a restored Temple. Specific measurements are given for the new city (Ezekiel 40-48, 4Q554), and the city is built with gold, sapphires, and emeralds (Isaiah, Tobit). In addition, 21:21 references the “twelve gates.” Revelation maintains another typical aspect of New Jerusalem tradition – the reunification of the twelve tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 48:33-34, 4Q554).

Verse 22 marks a sudden and remarkable shift in New Jerusalem apocalyptic rhetoric: “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.” Following with the tradition of 3 Baruch and 4 Sibylline Oracles, Revelation foresees an eschaton without the Temple. Why has the Revelation suddenly denied an eschatological Temple? Verse 23 sheds light on this disparity.

Verse 23 proclaims, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is the light, and its lamp is the lamb.” For the author of Revelation, there is no need for a Temple because the Lord will be the New Jerusalem’s eternal light and Jesus (the lamb) will be its lamp. This re-interpretation utilizes Isaiah to make its case: “The LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, or your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.” (Isaiah 60:19)

The Temple is discarded in the eschaton because the Lord will provide illumination for the New Jerusalem, and Christ will be the glory for its residents. Henceforth, Christians believed that the New Jerusalem no longer required a Temple. For Christians, their Lord sufficiently replaced the Temple.

New Jerusalem – Dead Sea Scrolls

Discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls near Qumran, Israel, were fragments of a scroll which describes New Jerusalem in minute detail. The New Jerusalem Scroll (as it is called) appears to contain apocalyptic vision, although, being fragmented, it is hard to categorize. Written in Aramaic, the text describes a vast city, rectangular in shape, with twelve gates and encircled by a long wall. Similar descriptions appear in Ezekiel 40-48 and Revelation 21-22 and comparison to the Temple Scroll (also found near Qumran) shows many similarities despite no direct literary links between the two.

Montanism

From the middle of the 2nd century CE to the middle of the 6th century CE, the ancient Christian sect of Montanism, which spread all over the Roman Empire, expected the New Jerusalem to descend to earth at the neighboring Phrygian towns of Pepuza and Tymion. In late antiquity, both places attracted crowds of pilgrims from all over the Roman Empire. Pepuza was the headquarters of the Montanist church. The Montanist patriarch resided at Pepuza. Women played an emancipated role in Montanism, serving as priests and also bishops. In the 6th century CE, this church became extinct.

Since 2001, Peter Lampe of the University of Heidelberg has directed annual archaeological campaigns in Phrygia, Turkey. During these interdisciplinary campaigns, together with William Tabbernee of Tulsa, numerous unknown ancient settlements were discovered and archaeologically documented. Two of them are the best candidates so far in the search for the identification of the two holy centers of ancient Montanism, Pepuza and Tymion, the sites of the expected descent of the New Jerusalem. Scholars had searched for these lost sites since the 19th century.

The ancient settlement discovered and identified as Pepuza by William Tabbernee and Peter Lampe was settled continuously from Hellenistic times to Byzantine times. In Byzantine times, an important rock-cut monastery belonged to the town. The town is in the Phrygian Karahallıarea, near the village of Karayakuplu (Uşak Province, Aegean Region, Turkey). The ancient site of Tymion identified by Peter Lampe is located not far away at the Turkish village of Şükranje. For the Montanists, the high plane between Pepuza and Tymion was an ideal landing place for the heavenly New Jerusalem.

Catholicism

The New Jerusalem, Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1860

The Catholic Church places the New Jerusalem in the eschatological role found in Revelation. Catholicism also holds that the New Jerusalem already exists as a spiritual community in Heaven, the Church triumphant, with an outpost on earth, the Church militant. Together, the Church triumphant, Church militant, and Church suffering form the Church universal. Augustine of Hippo, a Doctor of the Church and Church Father, draws inspiration from John’s account of the New Jerusalem to outline this view in his monumental work The City of God.

The Catholic Encyclopedia article on « Heaven » states that Catholic

theologians deem more appropriate that there should be a special and glorious abode, in which the blessed have their peculiar home and where they usually abide, even though they be free to go about in this world. For the surroundings in the midst of which the blessed have their dwelling must be in accordance with their happy state; and the internal union of charity which joins them in affection must find its outward expression in community of habitation. At the end of the world, the earth together with the celestial bodies will be gloriously transformed into a part of the dwelling-place of the blessed (Revelation 21). Hence there seems to be no sufficient reason for attributing a metaphorical sense to those numerous utterances of the Bible which suggest a definite dwelling-place of the blessed. Theologians, therefore, generally hold that the heaven of the blessed is a special place with definite limits. Naturally, this place is held to exist, not within the earth, but, in accordance with the expressions of Scripture, without and beyond its limits. All further details regarding its locality are quite uncertain. The Church has decided nothing on this subject.

Eastern Christianity

Emperor Lalibela of Ethiopia built the city of Lalibela as a new reconstructed Jerusalem in response to the Muslim capture of Jerusalem by Saladin‘s forces in 1187. The Eastern Orthodox Churchteaches that the New Jerusalem is the City of God that will come down from heaven in the manner described in the Book of the Apocalypse (Revelation). The Church is an icon of the heavenly Jerusalem.^[20] The New Jerusalem Monastery in Russia takes its name from the heavenly Jerusalem.

Puritans

The New Jerusalem was an important theme in the Puritancolonization of New England in the 17th century. The Puritans were inspired by the passages in Revelation about the New Jerusalem, which they interpreted as being a symbol for the New World. The Puritans saw themselves as the builders of the New Jerusalem on earth. This idea was foundational to American nationalism.^[21]

Swedenborgian

Ecclesiastic Swedenborgians often refer to their organizations as part of or contributing to the New Jerusalem as explained by Emanuel Swedenborg in such books as New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, Apocalypse Revealed, and Apocalypse Explained. According to Swedenborg, the New Jerusalem described in the Bible is a symbol for a new dispensation that was to replace/restore Christianity. Also according to these books, this New Jerusalem began to be established around 1757. This stems from their belief that Jerusalem itself is a symbol of the Church, and so the New Jerusalem in the Bible is a prophetic description of a New Church.

Latter Day Saint

Zion (Latter Day Saints)

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the New Jerusalem is viewed as a physical kingdom that will be built in North America,^[22] centered on Independence, Missouri.^[23] The movement refers to the New Jerusalem as Zion. The movement’s founder, Joseph Smith, attempted to establish this Zion in the early 1830s, and drafted a detailed plat of Zion based on his view of the biblical description of the New Jerusalem, including plans for a temple. However, due to political and military rivalry with other Missouri settlers, members of the religion were expelled from Missouri in 1838. Subsequently, several Latter Day Saint denominations have established residence there, believing that it will be the center of God’s Millennial kingdom.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Main article: The ‘anointed’ (Jehovah’s Witnesses and salvation)

Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that New Jerusalem is made up of anointed Christians serving in heaven as Kings and Priests over the earth. The number of these King-Priests will eventually number 144,000. This belief is based on New Jerusalem being described as « a bride adorned for her husband » REV 21:2, and this same « bride » then being described as « the Lamb’s wife » REV 21:9-10. REV 14:1is seen as depicting a wife-like relationship between the Lamb and the 144,000, therefore linking the identity of the 144,000 with the Lamb’s wife and in-turn also that of New Jerusalem.^[24]

Universal Friends

The religious community known collectively as the Publick Universal Friends that gathered around the Quaker evangelist Jemima Wilkinsonin the late 18th century was one of religious righteousness and devotion to Christian ideals. In 1790, Jemima founded a community she called New Jerusalem, planned as a communal society where righteousness would prevail. It was situated in the wilderness of New York’s Finger Lakes region, in what is today the town of Jerusalem, New York. The society faded away after the death of their leader, and so died the prospect of a community based on the will of God.

British Israelism

Richard Brothers, the originator of British Israelism, developed a viewpoint that the British are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, and that the capital city of Britain should therefore be re-modeled as a New Jerusalem for the coming Age of Enlightenment. Supposedly this idea was already present in 6th Century England, and that it reached its height of influence during and just after the First World War; certain buildings, such as St Paul’s Cathedral, supposedly contain elements of the plan in their design.

Bedwardism

Bedwardism, a Jamaican religious movement active between 1889 and 1921, asserted that August Town (a suburb of Kingston) was the New Jerusalem for the western hemisphere, and that Union Camp, where Alexander Bedward‘s Free Baptist Church was located, was Zion. This movement fell apart when Bedward was arrested in 1921.

Kimbanguism

Kimbanguism, a Congolese sectarian church founded in 1921 by Simon Kimbangu, refers to Kimbangu’s birthplace in Nkamba, Congo (a village near Mbanza-Ngungu), as New Jerusalem, where he reputedly performed miracles. Like Bedward, Kimbangu was imprisoned for life in the year 1921, however his movement continues with many followers to the present.

The Kimbanguist believe that people of the Nkamba village saw the New Jerusalem descending from heaven (a building) physically in 1935, by which time Father Simon Kimbangu was in prison. The Kimbanguist has constructed this same design of the building, calling it Nkamba New Jerusalem, in reference to Revelation 21; it has a river with supposed healing power.

Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

In 1853, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured Nanjing (Nanking) During the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty of China and renamed the city « New Jerusalem ».^[25]

Bahá’í Faith

The Bahá’í Faith views the New Jerusalem as the renewal of religion that takes place about every thousand years and which secures the prosperity of the human world.^[26][27] Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, identified the New Jerusalem with his claimed revelation (the word of God), and more specifically with the Law of God.^[28][29]

`Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh’s son, further explains that the New Jerusalem which descends from heaven is not an actual city which is renewed, but the law of God since it descends from heaven through a new revelation and it is renewed.<sup>[30]</sup> Shoghi Effendi, head of the religion after the death of `Abdu’l-Bahá, stated that specifically Bahá’u’lláh’s book of laws, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, is the new Jerusalem.^[31][32] Bahá’u’lláh, in the Tablet of Carmel, also states that the new Jerusalem had appeared upon the new Mount Zion, Mount Carmel.^[28]

Music

The Lutheran hymn « Jerusalem, du hochgebaute Stadt« , with lyrics written by Johann Matthäus Meyfart in 1626, describes entering the Heavenly Jerusalem. It was set by composers such as Max Reger and Sigfrid Karg-Elert.

Carly Simon references « the New Jerusalem, » in her Oscar-winning song from « Working Girl, » « Let the River Run. »

In popular culture

Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein wrote the story « If This Goes On—« , depicting a charismatic preacher managing to be elected President of the United States and setting up a theocratic dictatorship. Among other things, the capital is moved from Washington, D.C. to « New Jerusalem ».

In American hip hop culture and the Five-Percent Nation, « New Jerusalem » and « New Jeru » refer to New Jersey.^{[33][34][35][36]}

• « And did those feet in ancient time« 
• City upon a Hill
• Jewish eschatology
• Kingdom of Jerusalem
• Lamb of God
• New Galilee (Sixth Epoch)
• New Jerusalem theater
• New Rome
• Rauðúlfs þáttr
• Sacred geometry

Notes

1. ^ Ezekiel 48:35
2. ^ Isaiah 56:7
3. ^ Ezekiel 45:6
4. ^ Zechariah 14:17-19
5. ^ Rashi, Vilna Gaon and Malbim to Ezekiel Chap. 40
6. ^ Zechariah 2:4-5
7. ^ (The rebuilding of the walls under Nehemiah is covered in the Book of Nehemiah)
8. ^ Isaiah 54:11-14
9. ^ E.P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief 63 BCE – 66 CE (Philadelphia : Trinity Press International, 1992)
10. ^ James C. VanderKam and William Adler, The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996)
11. ^ David E. Aune, Apocalypticism, Prophecy, and Magic in Early Christianity (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2006)
12. ^ George W. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah (2nd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005)
13. ^ Aune, Apocalypticism, Prophecy, and Magic in Early Christianity, 5
14. ^ The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha (3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 1359
15. ^ Patrick A. Tiller, A Commentary on the Animal Apocalypse of 1 Enoch (Vol. 4. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993), 61-79
16. ^ Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (4th ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1997), 568-570
17. ^ Jump up to:^a b Bess, Philip (2003-04-19). « Design matters: the city and the good life: can the art of traditional urban design be renewed, and can we relearn how to create beautiful and livable cities? ». Christian Century. Archived from the original on 2004-09-18. Retrieved 2007-01-02.
18. ^ Exosphere#Earth.27s exosphere
19. ^http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/566862main_iss_fact_sheet.pdf
20. ^ Averky (Taushev), Archbishop; Fr. Seraphim (Rose) (1998). The Apocalypse in the Teachings of Ancient Christianity. Platina CA: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood. p. 26. ISBN 0-938635-67-0.
21. ^ An article about the Puritans and the New Jerusalem, from PBS.
22. ^ Joseph Smith, 1842, Wentworth Letter.
23. ^ LDS Doctrine and Covenants 57:2.
24. ^ Insight on the Scriptures. 2. 1988. p. 496.
25. ^ http://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/cdi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=headwaters^{[permanent dead link]}
26. ^ `Abdu’l-Bahá (1976). Bahá’í World Faith. Willmette, IL: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 381.
27. ^ Bahá’u’lláh (2003) [1862]. Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 198. ISBN 1-931847-08-8.
28. ^ Jump up to:^a b Sears, William (1961). Thief in the Night. London: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-008-X.
29. ^ Taherzadeh, Adib (1976). The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume 1: Baghdad 1853-63. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. p. 306. ISBN 0-85398-270-8.
30. ^ `Abdu’l-Bahá (1981) [1904-06]. Some Answered Questions. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 67. ISBN 0-87743-190-6.
31. ^ Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá’í Publishing Trust. p. 213. ISBN 0-87743-020-9.
32. ^ Taherzadeh, Adib (1984). The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume 3: `Akka, The Early Years 1868-77. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. p. 275. ISBN 0-85398-144-2.
33. ^ « ‘New Jeru’ in The Right Rhymes Hip-Hop Dictionary ». The Right Rhymes. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
34. ^ Margolis, Daniel; Bry, Dave; Erwin, Jack (October 22, 2013). « Ranking the 50 States Based on Their Contribution to Popular Music 11. New Jersey ». Complex. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
35. ^ James, Joy (2007). Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy. Duke University Press. p. 231. ISBN 0822339234. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
36. ^ Nasir, Kamaludeen Mohamed Mohamed (2016). Globalized Muslim Youth in the Asia Pacific: Popular Culture in Singapore and Sydney. Springer. p. 73. ISBN 9781137542649. Retrieved 27 June 2017.

References

• Bernet, Claus: « The Heavenly Jerusalem as a Central Belief in Radical Pietism in the Eighteenth Century », in: The Covenant Quarterly, 63, 4, 2005, pp. 3–19.
• La Cité de Dieu, ed. by Martin Hengel, Tübingen 2000.
• La Gerusalemme celeste, ed. by Maria Luisa Gatti Perer, Milano 1983.
• Kühnel, Bianca: From the Earthly to the Heavenly Jerusalem. Representations of the Holy City in Christian Art of the First Millennium, Rom, 1987.
• Peter Lampe, Die montanistischen Tymion und Pepouza im Lichte der neuen Tymioninschrift, in: Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 8 (2004) 498-512
• W. Tabbernee/Peter Lampe, Pepouza and Tymion: The Discovery and Archaeological Exploration of a Lost Ancient City and an Imperial Estate (deGruyter: Berlin/New York, 2008) ISBN 978-3-11-019455-5 und ISBN 978-3-11-020859-7
• Daniel C. Harlow, The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch) in Hellenistic Judaism and Early Christianity (New York: E.J. Brill, 1996)
• Sanders, E. P. The Historical Figure of Jesus. New York: Penguin Books, 1993.
• David Flusser, Judaism and the Origins of Christianity (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1988)
• Aune, Word Biblical Commentary: Revelation 17–22
• Stephen Pattemore, The People of God in the Apocalypse: discourse, structure, and exegesis (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004)

•  Media related to New Jerusalem at Wikimedia Commons
• An article about the Puritans and the New Jerusalem, from PBS.
• University of Heidelberg: The Discovery of Pepouza and Tymion
• Size of New Jerusalem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jerusalem

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Portrait of Laura in the Laurentian Library, Florence

Giacobbe Giusti, Portrait of Laura in the Laurentian Library, Florence

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Laura de Noves

Laura de Noves

Laura de Noves (1310–1348) was the wife of Count Hugues de Sade (ancestor of Marquis de Sade). She could be the Laura that the Humanist poet Francesco Petrarch  wrote about extensively; however, she has never been positively identified as such.^[1]Laura had a great influence on Petrarch’s life and lyrics. The historical information on Laura is meager at best.

Born six years after Petrarch in 1310 in Avignon, she was the daughter of a knight, Audibert de Noves and his wife Ermessenda. She married at the age of 15 on 16 January 1325. Petrarch saw her for the first time two years later on 6 April (Good Friday) in 1327 at Easter mass in the church of Sainte-Claire d’Avignon.

Not much is known about her other than she did have a large family, was a virtuouswife, and died in 1348. Since this first encounter with Laura, Petrarch spent the next three years in Avignon singing his purely platonic love and haunting Laura in church and on her walks. After this Petrarch left Avignon and went to Lombez (a French department of Gers) where he held a canonry gifted by Pope Benedict XII. Her possible tomb could have been discovered by the French poet Maurice Scève in 1533.^[2]

In 1337 he returned to Avignon and bought a small estate at Vaucluse to be near his dear Laura. Here, for the next three years, he wrote numerous sonnets in her praise.^[3] Petrarch’s Canzoniere (Songbook) is the lyrics to her in the troubadour tradition of courtly love. They advanced the growth of Italian as a literary language. They also popularized this form of sonnet that is called Petrarchan sonnet. Years after her death Petrarch wrote his Trionfi, which is a religious allegory in which Laura is idealized.^[4]

References

1. Jump up^ New Standard Encyclopedia, 1992 by Standard Educational Corporation, Chicago, Illinois; page P-240
2. Jump up^ Giudici, Enzo, (in Italian) Bilancio di un’annosa questione: Maurice Scève e la « scoperta » della « tomba di Laura , 1980 OCLC 715861236
3. Jump up^ American International Encyclopedia, publisher J.J. Little, New York 1954; reference article – ‘Petrarch’
4. Jump up^ New Standard Encyclopedia, 1992 by Standard Educational Corporation, Chicago, Illinois; page P-241

•  Media related to Laura de Noves

Laure de Sade

Giacobbe Giusti,  Laure de Sade

Laure de Sade, Villa Torlonia, Rome

Données clés

Nom de naissance	Laure de Sade
Alias	Laure aux mains blanches
Naissance	1310 Noves
Décès	1348 Avignon
Nationalité	provençale
Pays de résidence	Avignon et Comtat Venaissin
Activité principale	mère de famille
Autres activités	Muse de poète
Ascendants	fille d’Ermessande de Réal et d’Audibert de Noves
Conjoint	Hugues II de Sade
Descendants	Hugues III, aïeul du Marquis de Sade

Laure de Sade (1310–1348), dite aussi Laure de Noves^{N 1} (par erreur ?)¹, fille d’Ermessande de Réal et du chevalier Audibert de Noves, muse de Pétrarque et aïeule du Marquis de Sade².

Biographie

Laure épousa Hugues II de Sade^{N 2}, dans la Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs bibliothèque de Noves, comme le précise le contrat de mariage rédigé le 16 juin1325 par le notaire Raymond Fogasse.

Laure, elle-même poète

Avec Phanette de Gantelmes, sa tante, et plusieurs autres dames, elle tenait cour d’amour et rimait³.

Le coup de foudre de Pétrarque

Plaque commémorative apposée par l’Académie de Vaucluse sur la façade du couvent Sainte-Claire

Le 6 avril1327, alors qu’elle sortait de l’église du couvent de Sainte-Claire à Avignon, elle fut aperçue et remarquée par François Pétrarque. Dès lors, Laure aux blanches mains, devint la chaste inspiratrice du poète. Lui, qui affirmait haïr la cité papale, versifia :

Béni soit le jour et le mois et l’année,
La saison et le temps, l’heure et l’instant
Et le beau pays, le lieu où fut atteint
Par deux beaux yeux qui m’ont tout enchaîné.

C’est Mario Fubini⁴, qui remarque que, lorsque le poète décrit le ravissement qui l’envahit en contemplant Laure, il ose la comparer à la « Vision Béatifique »^{N 3}

Laure a-t-elle existé ?

Giacobbe Giusti,  Laure de Sade

Maison de Pétrarque
Laure et le poète

Nicholas Mann, professeur anglais d’histoire de la tradition antique au Warburg Institute de Londres, a lancé le pavé dans la mare lors d’une communication faite le 7 mai1994 au cours des assises de l’Institut d’Études Latines qui se tenaient à la Sorbonne⁵.

Rappelant le mythe de la nymphe Daphné qui, poursuivie par Apollon amoureux, implora son père Pénée de la changer en laurier⁶, il assimile Pétrarque au dieu solaire. Le poète serait tombé amoureux du laurier tout comme le dieu grec, à preuve qu’il s’en fit couronner à Rome. Cela l’aurait tellement obsédé qu’il décida qu’il lui fallait une bien-aimée portant ce nom tout comme Apollon^{N 4}.

À titre d’argument pour étayer sa thèse, il souligne que, dans les sonnets du Canzionere, cette muse littéraire est le plus souvent désignée sous des homonymes LAURO (le laurier), l’AURA (le vent), l’AUREO (le doré)^{N 5}, etc. Il néglige cependant de rappeler que le poète la désignait aussi sous le gracieux diminutif de LAURETTA.

Enfin, il se lance dans une démonstration où les chiffres 6 et 7 prennent une dimension inattendue. La première rencontre du poète avec Laure se fit le 6 avril1327, elle mourut le 6 avril1348 et Pétrarque se fit couronner le 6 avril1341. Mais tout ce bel échafaudage s’effondre devant les faits historiques puisque Pétrarque ne fut pas couronné le 6 avril mais le 8 avril⁷.

Ceci ayant été occulté, le professeur se lance dans un petit calcul démontrant que le poète aurait créé une structure idéale de 3 x 7 dans laquelle il aurait intégré une Laure imaginaire. De 1327 à 1341, après quatorze ans d’amour et de composition poétique, il fut couronné de lauriers et décida de faire mourir sa muse sept ans plus tard, en 1348^{N 6}.

Et Mann de conclure à propos de ce « jeune poète ambitieux aspirant à la gloire » :

« Ce n’est que plus tard qu’il se rend compte que la création d’une dame munie d’un nom évocateur pourrait rehausser sa gloire et, y ajoutant une dimension jusque-là absente, rehausser son art ».

Un éminent pétrarquien lui avait déjà répondu préalablement :

« Ni les images très précises qui tissent la matière lyrique, ni les transfigurations et les règles imposées par la tradition littéraire – sans compter les déclarations explicites de l’auteur lui-même (Familiares, II, IX) – ne permettent de réduire Laure à un symbole ou à une allégorie »⁸.

Et parmi les déclarations explicites du poète, il y a la lettre à Giacomo Colonna, parue dans ses Epistolæ metricæ, I, 6, et qui a été écrite à Vaucluse, vers l’été ou l’automne 1338« Il est dans mon passé une femme à l’âme remarquable, connue des siens par sa vertu et sa lignée ancienne et dont l’éclat fut souligné et le nom colporté au loin par mes vers. Sa séduction naturelle dépourvue d’artifices et le charme de sa rare beauté lui avaient jadis livré mon âme. Dix années durant j’avais supporté le poids harassant de ses chaînes sur ma nuque, trouvant indigne qu’un joug féminin ait pu m’imposer si longtemps une telle contrainte »⁹.

Les portraits de Laure

Ce faisant, le professeur londonien néglige de signaler qu’en 1344, Simone Martini, à la demande du poète, réalisa deux médaillons à son effigie et à celle de Laure^{N 7}.

De même qu’à Naples, la reine Jeannecommandita, quelques décennies plus tard, les fresques de la chapelle de Sancta Maria dell’Incoronata qui venait d’être édifiée entre 1360et 1373. Celles des voûtes représentent les sept sacrements et le Triomphe de l’Église. Elles ont été réalisées par l’un des élèves du Siennois Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Parmi les figures, les spécialistes ont pu identifier les portraits de Robert d’Anjou, de la reine Jeanne, ainsi que ceux de Pétrarque et de Laure, assistant au baptême de Giovanni, le fils du poète.

Au siècle suivant, Giovanni di Ser Giovanni, dit lo Scheggia (1406–1486), peignit a tempere sur bois Le triomphe de l’Amour. Laure et Pétrarque y sont représentés, le poète carressant de sa main droite la joue de sa muse. Cette œuvre se trouve exposée à Florence¹⁰.

Francesco Laurana (1430–1562), sculpteur et médailler d’origine dalmate qui vint s’établir à Avignon, sculpta dans le marbre le Masque mortuaire de Laure qui, aujourd’hui, fait partie des collections du Musée Granet d’Aix-en-Provence¹¹.

Mais le plus célèbre portrait de Laure appartient à la famille de Sade. Il fut à la base d’une vaste série iconographique à partir du xvii^e siècle, après que Richard de Sade en eut fait tenir une copie au cardinal Francesco Barberini en 1636. En dépit de sa célébrité, il est assuré que ce dernier portrait ne peut être qu’un faux daté de la Renaissance^{N 8}.

La mort de Laure

La tradition veut que la dernière rencontre entre le poète et sa muse eut lieu à Avignon, le 27 septembre1347.

L’éternel amour de Pétrarque succomba, le 6 avril1348, vingt-et-un ans jour pour jour après sa rencontre avec le poète. Sur son exemplaire de Virgile, il consigna son affliction :

« Laure, illustre par ses vertus et fort célébrée dans mes vers, m’apparut pour la première fois pendant ma jeunesse en 1327, le 6 avril dans l’église Sainte-Claire à Avignon, à la première heure du jour ; et dans la même cité dans le même mois, au même sixième jour et à la même première heure en l’an 1348, cette éclatante beauté fut soustraite à la lumière alors que j’étais à Vérone, bien portant, ignorant hélas de mon malheur ! Mais la malheureuse nouvelle me fut apportée à Parme par une lettre de mon ami Louis^{N 9} dans le dix-neuvième jour du mois suivant. Ce corps si beau et si chaste de Laure fut enseveli au couvent des frères mineurs, le jour même de sa mort à vêpres. »

Giacobbe Giusti,  Laure de Sade

Ancienne chapelle des Cordeliers d’Avignon

Elle n’était âgée que de trente-huit ans^{N 10}.

La mort de Laure, à l’existence si hypothétique^{N 11}, n’empêcha point le poète de continuer à chanter ses amours pour la belle Provençale et à réunir pour la postérité sonnets et chansons qui allaient former le très célèbre Canzoniere.

Il y fait même allusion dans ses Trionfi :

Non point pâle, mais plus blanche que neige,
Tombée sur la colline par un temps calme,
Elle semblait reposée comme fatiguée,
On eût dit qu’un doux sommeil fermait ses beaux yeux,
La mort elle-même paraissait belle sur son beau visage.
Le Triomphe de la Mort

Elle fut inhumée dans la chapelle des Sade, aux cordeliers d’Avignon. Devant l’autel, sa pierre sépulcrale portait deux écussons armoriés gravés dans la pierre, le seul déchiffrable arborait « deux branches de laurier en sautoir entourant une croix alaisée et surmontées d’une rose héraldique ». C’est ce qu’affirmèrent avoir vu le poète Maurice Scève qui, en 1533, fit ouvrir la tombe et, quelques mois plus tard, François I^er qui vint exprès à Avignon pour se recueillir sur la tombe de Laure^{N 12}.

Article détaillé : Rue des Teinturiers (Avignon).

Les aïeux du marquis de Sade

Laure laissait onze enfants : Paul, Audebert, Hugues – dit Hugues III, l’ancêtre du « Divin Marquis » – Pierre, Jacques, Joannet, Philippe, Augière, Ermessande, Marguerite et Gersande². Hugues se remaria avec Verdaine de Tentelive, dite Dame Trente-Livres, qui ne lui fit que six autres enfants^{N 13}.

Hugues III, troisième fils de Laure, s’installa pour ses affaires durant des années dans la ville d’Apt. On sait qu’en 1364, les syndics le chargèrent d’intervenir auprès d’Urbain V pour la création d’un collège. En 1387, il revint vivre à Avignon près de l’ancienne commanderie du Temple, en un Hôtel sis au n^o 19 de l’actuelle rue Saint-Agricol. En 1407, Hugues III, fils de Laure et de Hugues II, fut inhumé selon ses désirs testamentaires dans la chapelle des Cordeliers d’Avignon où reposaient déjà ses parents. En 1572, on signalait à Avignon une rue « anciennement appelée des Ortolans ou d’Hugues de Sade » puis, en 1647, « la rue Dorée qui est autrement dite rue de Sade »¹².

Laure face à la postérité

Giacobbe Giusti,  Laure de Sade

La Primavera de Sandro Botticelli

Mario Fubini notait dans son étude sur « Laure »¹³ que :

« Pour Pétrarque, la beauté de Laure est inséparable de celle de la nature au sein de laquelle elle vit. »

Quand il réalisa, en 1482, sa Primavera pour le mariage de Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de Médicis, cousin de Laurent de Médicis, avec Sémiramis Appiani, Sandro Botticelli eut le même sentiment en plaçant son héroïne au milieu d’une nature éblouissante qui s’incline devant elle.

L’opinion de Voltaire et du marquis de Sade

L’abbé Jacques de Sade écrivit ses Mémoires pour la vie de François Pétrarque où il démontra que Laure, dont certains doutaient de l’existence, était son aïeule. À la lecture de l’exemplaire que lui avait fait parvenir l’abbé, Voltaire lui écrivit de Ferney, le 12 février1764 : « Vous remplissez, Monsieur, le devoir d’un bon parent de Laure et je vous crois allié de Pétrarque, non seulement par le goût et les grâces mais parce que je ne crois point du tout que Pétrarque ait été assez sot pour aimer vingt ans une ingrate »¹⁴.

Quand son neveu, le Marquis de Sade, reçut ce livre à Vincennes où il était emprisonné, il lui fit un tel effet, qu’il écrivit le 17 février1779 à son épouse qu’il lui avait fait tourner la tête.

L’hommage de Victor Hugo

Pour célébrer Pétrarque, le grand poète ne put le faire qu’à travers sa muse. Sur la page de garde d’un Canzoniere¹⁵, il rima :

« Quand d’une aube d’amour mon âme se colore,
Quand je sens ma pensée, ô chaste amant de Laure,
Loin du souffle glacé d’un vulgaire moqueur,
Éclore feuille à feuille au plus profond du cœur,
Je prends ton livre saint qu’un feu céleste embrase,
Où si souvent murmure à côté de l’extase. »

Notes et références

Notes

1. ↑ Ève Duperray, conservatrice du Musée Pétrarqueà Fontaine de Vaucluse, avoue cependant «Dame Laure dont il est bien difficile de nos jours de savoir si elle fut de Noves, du Thor ou de Lagnes »
2. ↑ Hugues était le fils de Paul, issu d’une des plus anciennes et des plus illustres familles marchandes de la ville d’Avignon. Son grand-père, Garnier de Sade avait été chenevassier (chanvrier) et s’était associé à un riche négociant dénommé Jean Teissière (Johannès Textoris), chanvrier et cordier d’Avignon, tenant boutique en face l’église Saint-Pierre. Grâce à sa fortune considérable Garnier avait siégé au Conseil de Ville comme syndic. La famille de Sade, dont le commerce se faisait sur les deux rives du Rhône, participa toujours à l’entretien du pont Saint-Bénézet, ses armoiries sont toujours visibles sur la première arche.
3. ↑ Jean XXII avait récemment révolutionné l’Église avec cette Vision Béatifique.
4. ↑ En grec, nymphe et laurier portent le même nom.
5. ↑ Peut-on rappeler à l’éminent professeur d’histoire de la tradition antique du Warburg Institute de Londres que Pétrarque désignait Avignon sous le nom d’Epy, l’apôtre Pierre sous celui de Pamphyle, quant à Clément V, il était affublé du pseudonyme d’Epycus, et Clément VI de celui de Miltion ?
6. ↑ Pétrarque, machiavélique avant l’heure, aurait donc concocté sa machination lors de son couronnement dans la salle d’audience du Sénat romain sur le Capitole de Rome. Mais à quelle date ?
7. ↑ Ces deux médaillons furent conservés à Florence par les banquiers Peruzzi. Le poète, dans son dialogue avec saint Augustin, s’est plu à se faire réprimander par le docteur de l’Église : «La présence de Laure ne vous suffisait pas. Vous avez fait faire par un peintre habile un portrait d’elle que vous puissiez porter partout ».
8. ↑ Mais le portrait de la famille de Sade fut réalisé tardivement, sans doute lors de la Renaissance si l’on se base sur le costume rouge de Laure, typique de cette période.
9. ↑ Il s’agit de Louis Sanctus de Beeringen.
10. ↑ La cause de la disparition de Laure n’est pas établie de façon indubitable bien que la plupart des historiens penchent pour la Peste Noire. D’autres pensent qu’elle succomba à une phtisie occasionnée par l’épuisement dû à ses onze accouchements.
11. ↑ Certains, tout en ne niant pas que Laure ait bel et bien existé, refusent énergiquement qu’elle soit par son mariage l’aïeule du Divin Marquis. Il faut donc qu’elle soit autre que Laure de Noves. On lui donne donc toutes les ascendances possibles de la famille des Baux à celle des Adhémar de Monteil. Il se trouve même un original qui a tranché en faveur d’une Laurette, fille de Henri Chabaud, seigneur de Cabrières. Or s’il y a deux Cabrières, l’un près d’Avignon, l’autre près de Pertuis, ni l’un ni l’autre n’ont eu de seigneur portant ce nom
12. ↑ Marc Maynègre, membre de l’Académie de Vaucluse, a démontré, en dépit des exagérations des « inventeurs » de son tombeau, qu’il y avait une quasi-certitude que le texte de Pétrarque affirmant que sa muse était inhumée chez les frères mineurs d’Avignon soit véridique. Cf. liens externes
13. ↑ Hugues II de Sade testa le 14 novembre 1364 et sa seconde épouse le 9 janvier 1399.

Références

1. ↑ Les différentes Laure de Pétrarque Emmanuel Davin, Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé : Lettres d’humanité (1956, Numéro LH-15 pp. 83-104) [archive]
2. ↑ ^a et b Gilbert Lely, La vie et l’œuvre du Marquis de Sade, Éd. Albatros, Paris, 2001, p. 8.
3. ↑ Les vies des plus célèbres et anciens poètes provençaux par Jean de Nostredame [archive]Cet ouvrage, sujet à caution, est annoté par Camille Chabaneau et Joseph Anglade : le lecteur ou la lectrice, qui souhaite approfondir le sujet, lira utilement leurs commentaires
4. ↑ Mario Fubini fut professeur de littérature italienne à l’Université de Milan et à l’Université Bocconi.
5. ↑ Sa communication a été publiée dans le Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé en décembre 1994 sous le titre Pétrarque et les métamorphoses de Daphné.
6. ↑ Cf. Les Métamorphoses d’Ovide.
7. ↑ E. G. Léonard, Les Angevins de Naples, Paris, 1954.
8. ↑ Vittore Branca, Pétrarque in Encyclopedia Universalis, Paris, 1985.
9. ↑ Colette Lazam, op. cit., p. 28-29.
10. ↑ Museo di Palazzo Davanzati, Inv. 1890, n^o 1611.
11. ↑ Ce masque mortuaire est classé Inv. Gal. 1.46.S.
12. ↑ J. Girard, Évocation du vieil Avignon, Les Éditions de Minuit, Paris, 1958.
13. ↑ Cf. Mario Fubini, op. cité.
14. ↑ Lettre CXLVI à M. le comte de Sade. Ève Duperray, François Pétrarque, (1304-1374) avec traduction en italien de Roberto Lisciandro, Éd. Musée Pétrarque, Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, 1987.
15. ↑ Vers de Victor Hugo, sur la page de garde d’unCanzoinere [archive]

Bibliographie

• Abbé de Sade, Mémoires pour la vie de François Pétrarque, tirés de ses œuvres et des auteurs contemporains avec les notes ou dissertations et les pièces justificatives, T. I à III, Amsterdam-Avignon, 1764-1767.
• Abbé Costaing de Pusignan, La Muse de Pétrarque dans les collines de Vaucluse ou Laure des Baux, sa solitude et son tombeau dans le vallon de Galas. Paris-Avignon, 1819.
• Stéphanie-Félicité, comtesse de Genlis, Pétrarque et Laure, Paris, 1819.
• H. Olivier-Vitalis, L’illustre châtelaine des environs de Vaucluse. Dissertation et examen critique des diverses opinions des écrivains qui se sont occupés de cette belle Laure, que le divin poète toscan a immortalisée, et dont lui seul nous a fourni quelques données pour son intéressante biographie, Paris, 1842.
• C. F. Trachsel, Laurea Noves Petræ-Amata. Médaille originale du XIV^e siècle jusqu’à présent inédite, décrite par [l’auteur], Annuaire de la Société numismatique, 1895.
• C. F. Trachsel, Franciscus Petrarca nuncius apud republicam Venetiam pax fecit cum Januenses. Médaille originale et authentique du XIV^e siècle, jusqu’ici inédite modelée par Memmi, dit Maître Simon de Sienne [Simone Martini], Lausanne, 1900.
• E. Müntz et prince d’Essling, Pétrarque : ses études d’art, son influence sur les artistes, ses portraits et ceux de Laure. Illustrations de ses écrits, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1902.
• H. Enjoubert, Les amours de Pétrarque et de Laure de Sabran, Paris, 1941.
• M. Mignon, Laure et Pétrarque, Monaco, 1949.
• Mario Fubini, Laure in Dictionnaire des personnages littéraires et dramatiques de tous les temps et de tous les pays, Éd. S.E.D.E. & V. Bompiani, Paris, 1960.
• A. Paita, Petrarca e Laura, Milan, 2004.
• Colette Lazam(traduction et notes), Karl Heinz Stierle (préface), Pétrarque. Séjour à Vaucluse, Paris, Petite Bibliothèque Payot. Rivages poche, 2009 (ISBN 978-2-7436-1986-2,OCLC 470617806)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_de_Noves

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, ANTONELLO da MESSINA: Ecce Homo

Giacobbe Giusti, ANTONELLO da MESSINA: Ecce Homo

 

Giacobbe Giusti, ANTONELLO da MESSINA: Ecce Homo

 

Giacobbe Giusti, ANTONELLO da MESSINA: Ecce Homo

Ecce Homo is the title of a series of paintings by the Italian Renaissance master Antonello da Messina. They date from 1470^[1] to 1475.

Paintings

Antonello is known to have treated this subject four times; three (b, c, d) are variations of the same design; a fourth (a) differs.

• a) Christ Crowned with Thorns, in the collection of Gaspar Méndez de Haro, 7th Marquis of Carpio in 1687; Don Giulio Alliata, Palermo, 1698, when it was said to bear the date 1470, now illegible; …Michael Friedsam, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no.32.100.82.^[2][3]
• b) Picture Gallery of Collegio Alberoni, Piacenza, dated 1472.^[4]
• c) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, dated 1474.^{[citation needed]}
• d) National Gallery of the Palazzo Spinola, Genoa.^[5]

• 

   

  c. 1470, Metropolitan Museum of Art

   

• 

  1475, Piacenza

   

 

• 

  Palazzo Spinola, Genoa

• Italian Renaissance painting, development of themes

Notes

1. Jump up^ The date formerly visible on the ex-coll. Olivares painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2. Jump up^ Federico Zeri and Elizabeth E. Gardner, Italian Painting: the Venetian School(Metropolitan Museum) 1973:2, pl. 2).
3. Jump up^ Antonello da Messina. « Christ Crowned with Thorns ». Art Object. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 32.100.82: The Metropolitan. Retrieved 9 June 2014. This painting may date as early as 1470. […] Christ is shown behind a parapet—a convention Antonello appropriated from portraiture. The device enhances the effect of Christ’s physical presence and suffering: « a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief » (Isaiah 53:3).
4. Jump up^ « Ecce Homo in the Piacenza collection ». Collegio Alberoni, Piacenza: Associazione Piacenza Musei. Retrieved 9 June 2014. …the outstanding Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina. Such painting is one of the top masterpieces by the painter from Messina, and deals with the key factor in his pictorial research, as confirmed by the stylistic comparison with other works of his, such as Ecce homo in Palazzo Spinola (Genova), Cristo Benedicente (Christ Blessing) at London’s National Gallery and Cristo alla Colonna (Christ at the pillar) at Louvre.
5. Jump up^ « Collaborations. Fondazione Spinola ». Genoa: La Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte. Retrieved 9 June 2014. …2000 exhibition “Ecce Homo by Antonello da Messina – Genoa and Piacenza, A Comparison between two Different Versions” National Gallery of Palazzo Spinola, Genoa

Further reading

• Barbera, K, ed. (2005). Antonello da Messina : Sicily’s Renaissance master. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Description(in Italian)

 Museum of Modern Art.

Giacobbe Giusti, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

Giacobbe Giusti, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

 

Giacobbe Giusti, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Location in Manhattan Show map of ManhattanShow map of New York CityShow map of New YorkShow map of the USShow all
Established	April 13, 1870; 148 years ago[1][2][3]
Location	1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028
Visitors	6,692,909 (2017)[4]
Director	Max Hollein
Public transit access	Subway:  ​ ​to 86th Street Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M79, M86 SBS
Website	www.metmuseum.org
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Elevation by Simon Fieldhouse
Built	1874; 144 years ago
Architect	Richard Morris Hunt; also Calvert Vaux; Jacob Wrey Mould
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts
NRHP reference #	86003556
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	January 29, 1972[5]
Designated NHL	June 24, 1986[6] [7]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, colloquially « the Met« ,^[a] is the largest art museum in the United States. With 7.06 million visitors in 2016, it was the third most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind. ^[8] Its permanent collection contains over two million works,^[9] divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan’s Museum Mile, is by area one of the world’s largest art galleries. A much smaller second location, The Cloistersat Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from Medieval Europe. On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuermuseum at Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side; it extends the museum’s modern and contemporary art program.

The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the Europeanmasters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world. Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 for the purposes of opening a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_Homo_(Antonello_da_Messina)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com