Guided Pathway
Panel 79
Mass. Devouring of God. Bolsena, Botticelli. Paganism in the Church. Miracle of the bleeding host. Transubstantiation. Italian criminal before the last rites
In this last panel of the “final version” of the Mnemosyne-Atlas, Warburg makes the Eucharist his principal theme. However, with its immense chronological (from the ninth century to 1929) and geographical (from Japan, to Germany, to Rome) range, the panel also serves to summarize the entire project. Indeed, as Warburg implicitly acknowledges in his 1929 Doktorfeier talk, the two newspaper clippings from the Hamburger Fremdenblatt function themselves as Atlas-like combinatory art. With its historical, political, and theological resonances, the panel grasps after redemption, even as it warily eyes demonic forces.