The Day Polish Pirates Pinched the Last Judgment

of you may be wondering which one that's right. There are a few last judgments, but only one has been stolen that we know of, So let's narrow that down. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Rantram Marquis and I'm Holly Fry, And actually there are more less judgments than you might expect. In fact, we will begin with the first known work. Then we'll kind of make our way along the historical timeline. With so many out there, you may be wondering, has only one ben stolen? We'll find out along the way

for sure. First we're going to jump back to the twelfth century. There is a mural painted from red tempera on the west wall of the nave of the Church of St. Peter and Paul at Childon Surrey. While it is not named the Last Judgment, it depicts various iconographic subjects from biblical stories of the end of the world. This piece contrasts the ideas of heaven and hell. Its upper half depicts the salvation of souls, its lower half

depicts demons and sinners awaiting judgments. The mural, while it's had the most time in history to be injured or stolen, never has been. It is no doubt to help that it is painted directly onto the wall, and that's the case with some of the others on this list as well. A money lender named Enrico s Graveni commissioned a series of frescoes from Florentine painter Giotto, including a depiction of the biblical story of the Last Judgment. For this Scraveny

chapel in Padua, Italy. Geogo completed the work around thirteen o six. In the center of the fresco is Christ surrounded by angels. The apostles are depicted on either side of him, each on their own throne, and the cross, which is seen below. Christ is carried by two angels dividing Heaven from Hell. Hell is depicted on the lower right, with Satan shown as a large blue figure in the center,

surrounded by tortured souls and Nope. This one, too has been safe since its creation more than seven hundred years ago. Commissioned by the Countess of Egremont in eighteen o seven, who was inspired by Michelangelo's Last Judgment, William Blake created a piece in ink and watercolor entitled A Vision of

the Last Judgment. Within the notes of his piece, Blake wrote, quote, whenever any individual rejects error and embraces truth, a last Judgment passes upon that individual his vision of the Last Judgment. It has been safe for more than two centuries. And then there's Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who considered the artist Jan van Eyke, who was his court painter unequal. Van Ike's Crucifixion and Last Judgment Diptic was created in

four six and consists of two small painted panels. Historians believed some areas may have been finished by unidentified members of his workshop, which actually wouldn't have been uncommon at that time. The idea of the workshop, a type of apprenticeship, was at the heart of many industries in the Italian Renaissance, including carpentry, baking, cobbling, painting, on and on. Van Ike was an innovator of what became known as the Early

Netherlandish style of painting. There is a common misconception out there that seems to date back to a sixteenth century artist named Vita of the Tuscan, that van Ike invented oil painting, which that's just not true. It is, however, true, that he achieved, or you may even be able to say, perfected, new ways to develop oil mediums, to use glazes and

oil resin varnishes as well as drying oils. He's also credited with originating a style of painting that relied on realistic depictions of surface effects in natural light, all made possible with those new ways of building up oil paints and translucent layers. So though van Eyek is known to have the most stolen art piece of all time, yes, of all time, it's not his last judgment that's among

the thieves most wanted piece of art. That takes us to another early Netherlandish painter named Hieronymous Bosch that was actually the pseudonym of your own Van Akin Bosch is known for his dream like pieces painted in oil on oakwood and containing fantastical illustrations of religious concepts and narratives. His version of the Last Judgment lies across three panels and it takes us from the biblical story of the Garden of Eden to a book of revelation hell Escape

where the damned are punished. The Last Judgment trip Tick, created sometime around fourteen two, is part of the permanent collection of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. While Bosh's works have gone missing in the past, including the rare piece Temptation of Saint Anthony, stolen from the Chrysler Art Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts in nineteen seventy, as well as the Conjuror, which was stolen from the Museum of suburban Saint Germain Lay in ninety eight, there is no

record of his Last Judgment ever having been stolen. And then there was Lucas Senior Relli, an Italian Renaissance painter. His depiction of the Last Judgment can be found in the Chapel of San Brizio and features the Biblical stories of bodies of the damned awaiting judgment. Seniorrelli completed more than one piece at that chapel, including this one, between

fourteen and fifteen o nine. His Last Judgment Fresco is widely considered the inspiration for the now famous image of fearful Souls in another work called The Last Judgment, that one created by Michelangelo and unveiled on October thirty one fifty one. Each of these works has focused on the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, telling the story of the second Coming of Christ and God's eternal judgment of all humanity, and michel Angelo's painting

is no different. Though his work of Fresco is grand in scale, it covers the entire altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. The Italian artist was primarily a sculptor and not a painter, but he created one of the most well known Renaissance paintings. This painting depicts more than three hundred souls surrounding a

central figure, a depiction of Christ. There is, for those of you who like the hidden details, a self portrait of Michelangelo sneaked into an unexpected place in this painting, the artist rendered himself as the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus according to Christian theology, and who was said to have been flayed alive. If you have ever seen this, it is quite a striking image, quite an interesting choice to use

as your self portrait. Renaissance painter and architect Georgio Vasari's book The Lives of the Most Excellent was a series of artist biographies. The Sari was very prominent on the art scene at the time that Michelangelo was working. In it, he wrote about Michelangelo and specifically of the last Judgment, quote he threw it open to view in the year of fifty one, I believe on Christmas Day to the

marvel of all Rome, nay of the whole world. And I who was that year in Venice and went to Rome to see it, was struck dumb by its beauty. Michel Angelo's contemporary Nino Sernini, reported on this work to Cardinal Gonzaga, and in that report he wrote, quote, it is of such beauty that your Excellency can imagine that there is no lack of those who condemn it, but those who condemned it, and there were quite a few, did not steal it. The creations of the Last Judgments

didn't end with Michelangelo's masterpiece. Between eighteen fifty one and eighteen fifty three, English Romantic painter John Martin painted a Last Judgment triptych depicting the planes of heaven and the great day of his wrath. The Christian God is depicted sitting on a throne in heaven, surrounded by four archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, and by the elders of the Revelation below them. On the left you see those saved waiting to ascend

to heaven. The damned are found on the right, tumbling down a bottomless pit. Martin was known to feature real life people in his paintings, including this one, and notable persons among the saved, for instance, are Copernicus and Shakespeare. Again, though this is a depiction of the Last Judgment that's been lucky enough to never have been nicked. It keeps going, but we are coming to the end of the Last

Judgment lists. If you were in the market for a depiction of the Christian apocalypse, there were a lot to choose from. Obviously, Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov gave us an early twentieth century depiction of the Last Judgment that was created for St. George's Cathedral and Gus Kristalani and commissioned by U. S. Natziev Matzev, who coincidentally had also funded

the building of the cathedral. That painting, completed in nineteen o four, depicts Christ at the top of the piece, with the Virgin Mary on the left and John the Baptist on the right. Souls are seen waiting for salvation, and Satan can be seen taunting those destined for hell. Another Russian artist and one of the pioneers of abstract

modern art, Vasily Kandinsky, created his own Last Judgment. Kandynski's features in irregular black shape at the center of the work, surrounded by colorful lines and dots, as well as shapes of various sizes, some open ended and some closed. That piece is part of a series of paintings featuring biblical themes, including the Resurrection Jonah and the Whale and the Great Flood, and those were produced by Kendynski between nineteen twelve and

nineteen thirteen. None of the works in that series have been stolen, and this leaves us with one more last judgment. This one is a triptych painted by Hans Memling, a piece he started in fourteen sixty seven and completed in fourteen seventy one. Out of so many, yes, this is the one. It is the one. This last judgment was stolen in the late fifteenth century, but not by sleight of hand or by skirting alarm systems or any sort of Hollywood like stunt work. It was looted by pirates.

Oh that's right, there were pirates. We are going to take a break for a word from our sponsor, and when we're back we will talk about who Hans Memling was and how important he was to the early Netherlandish painting movement. Welcome back to Criminalia. We've described all the other works, so let's talk about what memlings last judgment looks like. Memling's Last Judgment, trip Tik is one of the world's best preserved examples of early Netherlandish painting. Spanning

a timeline of more than five hundred years. The work has never been severely damaged, despite some pretty thrilling adventures it's been on. This is a well traveled piece of art. This piece tells the story of the end of days as described in Christian theology in the Revelation of St. John. It depicts the biblical figures of Christ and the archangel Michael during the final Judgment story in the Christian Bible.

Depicted as the Judge, Christ appears on a rainbow with his feet resting on a golden orb, considered a symbol of the universe. He is surrounded by the apostles. Michael in golden armor is weighing souls of those who have risen from the dead. Above them are angels. Below are the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. The right hand panel features saved souls walking up to the gates of Heaven. The left hand side depicts the scene where the damn

are cast down into eternal damnation, so Membling himself. Memling was most likely born between fourteen thirty five and fourteen forty in dot near Frankfurt in today's Germany, and probably spent his childhood in Minds. We know he's spent almost thirty years of his life as an artist working in Bruge, but we only have bits and pieces of information about the details of his life there. It's known that he became a citizen of Bruges in January of fourteen sixty five.

We know he married Anna Valkanair sometime between fourteen seventy and fourteen eighty, and that the couple had children at least three sons. By fourteen eighty, Memmling owned three homes and had become one of the wealthiest men in the city. He was much acclaimed as an artist in his own lifetime, something not every artist gets to enjoy. When recording his death in fourteen ninety four, the notary of Bruce described Memmling as quote the most skillful painter in the whole

of Christendom. While there have been ups and downs among critics and art historians over the centuries about the validity of his works, he is now today considered a major Northern Renaissance artist. One problem here that triptych does not bear Memling signature, and that has led to it being attributed to various Netherlandish painters throughout history, including Jan Vanik, who we mentioned creating his own Last Judgment, but also

Roger van der Veiden, who was Memling's mentor. Hugo van der Goes Albert von Uvetter, and Michael Volgemut have all been considered at various times. It was German art historian Gustav Hodo who in eighteen forty three saw Memling's distinct hand in the Last Judgment, though in nineteen o one. In nineteen o two, German art historian and cultural theorist Abby Warburg added Hotels thesis to his publications, and the Memling Triptych has been an undisputed Memling work pretty much

ever since. Today there are upwards of eighty paintings known as his, and the list is growing. Memling is known for his work in early Netherlandish art style, as well as Flemish art and the gent Bruges school. He was likely at least at first schooled in the art styles trending in Cologne before he traveled to Bruge. It's in Bruge where he trained in the workshop of internationally known Flemish painter Rogier vander Widen, probably between fourteen fifty nine

and fourteen sixty four. Once in Bruge, he quickly began receiving commissions from its wealthy and influential residence, and this is where he settled. He began to specialize in small diptics and triptics for individual devotion, but it was Membling's portraits in particular that were popular, and especially popular in Italy.

According to Paula Natal, an art historian specializing in the Renaissance, memlings distinctive style in his portraits came from his use of landscape backgrounds by quote, a balanced counterpart between top and bottom, foreground and background, the head offset by the neutral expanse of sky and the neutral area of the shoulders enlivened by the landscape detail beyond. His style influenced the work of numerous fifteenth century Italian painters and can

be seen in pieces such as Raphael's Madelenadoni. But it wasn't one of his portraits that was stolen. So we're going to take a break for a word from our sponsors, and when we return we will talk about who Angelo Tani was and why he probably never saw Memlings last judgment, Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how conflict between England and the Hanseiotic League led to the perhaps unintentional

theft of memlings triptic. Angelo Tani, an ancient of the Medici Bank in Bruges was the triptics patron, and he commissioned it in fourteen sixty five. In fact, when the triptic is closed, Tony and his wife are shown kneeling

in prayer. We read about this piece that it was supposed to be hung in a chapel in Florence, but though not all reports suggested this, we did see that it was intended to hang as the altar piece for a new private chapel in Fiesole in Tuscany, near the city of Florence, where the Badia Fia Solana is currently located. Before April three, you'll find no mention actually of memoins last judgment triptych nothing. On that day it was loaded under Burgundian flag aboard the San Mateo, a galley bound

from Bruge to Florence, Italy via the English coast. Two days later the San Mateo, when the vessel entered English waters, well that's when things went sideways. Here the vessel was overtaken by a ship under the Hanseatic League also known as the Hansa, which was at the time at war with England. So for more than four hundred years, the Hanseatic League shaped Northern Europe. It's economy, trade, its politics,

and this continued well into the seventeenth century. At its peak, the network was an alliance of trading guilds that included more than two hundred towns, mainly around the Baltic Sea and Inland up to Cologne or Hurt and Krakoff. The league extended far beyond this area, though, with trading posts running on routes from Portugal to Russia, Finland to the Mediterranean. In Bruge, London and Bergen, the long distance traders founded

large foreign trading posts. Smaller ones were established in many other cities on their roots. The long distance merchants joined forces to boost business, of course, but also to better protect themselves against pirates. The conflict that catalyzed the events we're talking about was fought between England, specifically against the English merchant community's expansion, and the Hanseatic League, and lasted

from roughly fourteen sixty nine to fourteen seventy four. It was during this Anglohnsiatic War when the Membling triptych was stolen at So the first recorded artist in history involves something that we know a little bit about from one of our earlier seasons pirates. Paul Bennicky was a Godons town council leader, and he was a pirate. Technically he was a privateer because he got paid for his piracy gigs. But really I think we all learned a few seasons ago that a pirate is a pirate is a pirate.

He was commissioned by Lubeck, head of the Hanseatic League, to captain the ship Peter von Danzig. Danzig is the German name for the city of Godons, which throughout history has had periods of Polish, Prussian, and German rule. Today it is one of the oldest cities in Poland. As a result of the conflict between England and the Hanseatic League, Captain Bennecky Stalked, attacked, and boarded the Florence boundship transporting

the Last Judgment. The painting never reached Italy. As this is generally accepted as the first document minted instance of modern art theft. To some historians, that indicates memlings paintings were beginning to be seen as worthy as gold, silver, maybe even precious stones, items of value you might find in a pirates loot. When private collectors became interested in art, which was roughly at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Some paintings and works by certain artists became worth the

steel because of the payoff. Others, though, consider Memlings worked to have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the North Sea, Bennecky commandeered the galley and sailed it and all of its cargo, including the membling piece, as well as textiles, leather, furs, valuable album and more, back to Poland, specifically to the port city of Gdansk on the Baltic coast of Poland. There was just to make note, one report that suggested that Bennecky

alternatively tugged the vessel to the port of Stop. All of the stolen cargo fell into the possession of the pirates or I'm sorry, the privateers. At first, they gave their load to the local nobles, who then in turn gave everything to what is now St. Mary's Basilica in the center of the city. Angelo Tani, who commissioned the last judgment, not surprisingly objected to the seizure, and the

issue was taken up in papal court. Benniket's looting was defended on the basis that the seizure had been a legitimate act of war, as the Ansiotic League had been at war with England at the time it was taken, so case closed. The triptych was hung on one of the pillars of the Goddon's Chapel of St. George, where it stayed for more than three hundred years. Fast forward

a little bit to the sixteenth century. Rudolf the second Holy Roman Emperor admired Memling's work and wanted to buy the triptych for forty thou sailers sailors if you're not familiar at the time where large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire. But that offer, which was pretty generous, was turned down by the city of Goadonsk in seventeen Sixteenszar Peter the First

was not as subtle as to request its purchase. He just demanded that Memling's last judgment be handed over as a token of gratitude for peace negotiations that had been favorable for the city. Goodonsk city officials, though once again decline. It wasn't until eighteen o seven when the French, led by Martial of Febre, conquered Goadonsk that the painting was given a new home, although no it was not returned

to its owner. The painting was shipped to the newly established Napoleon Museum in the Louver in Paris, and it was there actually where it was erroneously considered to be the work of Jan van Ike. It remained there for eight years until it was sent to Berlin. It was returned to Goodonsk in eighteen seventeen through diplomatic efforts by the city council and an intervention by the King of Prussia.

It was placed once again in St. Mary's Basilica, where it stayed until the final days of the Second World War. It was hidden for its safety during the war, but was ultimately looted by the Red Army and taken to the Hermitage in Leningrad. Post World War Two, Poland became the new rightful owner under new international treaties, and in y six the last Judgment was at least initially hung

in the National Museum in Warsaw. It was later moved to the Pomeranian Museum, which became the National Museum and gnounced in and that's where you can still visit it today if you were interested. The Memblane triptych, which we've learned should never have actually been in dust to begin with, remains the only work of the Flemish artist in any collection in museums across all of Poland. And that is the story of the second last judgment. There's so many

any it's time for heist hooch. And the thing that of course struck me about this entire story, it's just how much this guy moved around, which is a lot. Yes, that got me thinking about the idea of so many people claiming ownership over it, and the one person who actually technically should have owned it never getting to never saw it, never even saw it, did not have the Internet, then he cannot look it up. I am calling this one Tonny's lament. I appreciate that he is being uplifted

here because he really falls down in the story. He is and then there's a spirit I chose to represent him in a way and you'll hear what it is in a moment and you'll be like predictable, but also I hope funny. One of the things that I wanted to do was build a drink that represented all of the countries where mem his last judgment has lived. Good luck getting a glass that big. Well, you gotta be a little bit judicious so that you don't just get trash, right,

because that's a lot of stuff. First, I'm going to tell you what gets included to represent eachthing, and then we'll do the actual measures of the drink. So, since it was intended for either Florence or just outside of it, but it never made it there, Mr Tony never got what he wanted. The bitter appair tief Campari is going to be in the mix because I would be real bitter about this whole life. But I weren't telling his wife. He's like, when they close it, it's the two of us.

So beautiful, honey, it's gonna be amazing. I've never seen it, so yeah, it's Campari. Also, we did, if you remember, a while back, I did a drink that was trying to make friends with the Negroni, which has Campari, and so I have it on hand. I gotta find more ways to use it. I think I have here. Poland has to be highly represented as well, obviously because it's

lived there for a long time. This one is a two fur right, We're combining Poland and Russia, because we're gonna get some vodka in the mix, and I specifically suggest a spirit that appeared on our show at the very beginning, which is bison grass vodka. You're going all the way back like origin story. I still have a little bit in my bottle of Zabraca, which is one

of my favorite brands of vodka. We are not paid in any way for a neighbor, so I just legitimately love that vodka, and it's a Polish vodka and it is delicious, so that, as I said, continues to be a favor. You don't have to have that specific kind of vodka, and if you don't have bison grass, that's fine. Just a good neutral vodka will work here. And then we don't want to keep adding spirits because this will

get sloppy. So next I went to crops. So Belgium and Germany fortunately have a lot of crossover crops, so this drink is going to feature both apple and cherry flavors. I know it would have been obvious to do a beer cocktail because of Belgium, but I don't love those frankly. But also it stayed in France for a minute, so we're going to include some lemon juice. Now, citrus might not be what you think of when you think of European crops, but the south of France has actually become

really well known for its lemon groves. Those are specifically called ment in lemons because of the region that they grow in, which have very productive trees. They produce like more per branch than other lemon trees. But for today, regular lemon juice, and you're also gonna in the mix of that, have some raspberry syrup. Raspberries also grow in

belgiumin Germany, and here we go. So you're gonna put one ounce of campari, one ounce of your vodka, one ounce of lemon juice, and one ounce of raspberry syrup in your shaker. Next you were adding to this two ounces of cherry water. Now, when I say that, what I mean is like there are various companies that do healthy waters that have a lot of faver. You want one of those cherry versions of that. And because there that's a water, we're not gonna do ice in this shaker.

We're gonna what's called dry shaking, which just means you're not putting ice in the tin. The ice in your tin is to help dilute your alcohols, but since that is a water item, you don't need to do that. You just want to shake it. I do suggest pre chilling your glass so that you have an extra cold drink, because it's shaking also makes things cold, and if you don't have ice in there, you won't get the same level of chill. So put that glass in the fridge.

When you're first starting this, you want to put your ice in and then put it in the fridge. Great, you're gonna shaky shake it. You're gonna strain it over fresh ice into that chilled glass, and then you're gonna top it with another thing that's shown up on the show before hard cider. This is yummy. I have officially made friends with Campari. It took me a minute, and I will say because that is a unique flavor that does have a lot, it is really the prevailing flavor

if you're not careful. I had to do a lot of tweakies to get proportions where I wanted them to become friends. We had to have a lot to become friends. We had to know exactly how much of that friend I am willing to deal with one ounce plus one ounce of vodka. Now, a mocktail version of this is a little bit tricky, but it's doable. So your lemon juice, your raspberry syrup, your cherry water, those are all obviously easy. Keep them in lieu of your hard cider. You're just

gonna do a not hard cider. Now the tricky part, right, you can just skip the vodka. And here's what I would do in lieu of cumpari. First of all, if you can brew a uh An orange tea, I would use that. I would hard brew that thing. I would let it steep for a while. And even though you have already used that, I would also this is a place where garnish can really help make up the gap between a cocktail and a mocktail. You want to get your a little coin, a little piece of orange peel.

You want to make sure you rub the rim of your glass so that it gets those oils from the thing. You want the outside edge of the peel. If you do the inside, the white pithy part, it's really bitter and you don't want to put that to your mouth. So that's what I would do for the mocktail, and I would keep pretty much the same proportions for everything

you can tweak. At that point, you may want to throttle back a little bit on the syrup so it doesn't get too sweet, because in this case, that's like an ounce of syrup is because you are countering that ounce of very toothy and bity kampari. If you love kampari, and some people do, then you're golden and you know, don't worry about any of this. That is Tanny's lament. And as I've said before, because I often do these drinks in the mornings before we record, I don't usually

drink the whole thing. But I didn't even mean to. And then I was like, oh, I'm down to rocks. I got nothing but ice left. What happened here? That was delicious? That was good? Say keep all of these ingredients out for later. Yes, I will for sure make another. It's a beautiful red color, so it's I was about to ask when it's you know that campari is packs a lot of pigments, very red. I imagine It's really not like it doesn't look deluted down in here. It

all because you're adding in Jerry raspberry. The raspberry syrup also adds red and depending on what syrup you're you use. This gets a little in the weeds in terms of like color, but like campari is a very orangey looking red, the raspberry syrup I used was a very blue based red, and so they ended up with a neutral, kind of pure clean red, which is nice anyway. Red. Uh, get to the red of your liking, right, Tunny's lament because

I'd be bitter if somebody took my painting. If I commissioned a painting and it got stolen by pirates, I'm not sure that I would not behave in a manner that is illegal in band. I think I would hunt them down. Don't don't do that. Don't do bad things. But it would be hard because I imagine it was not inexpensive and also seemed to be something that he was very much looking forward to. We hope that you

look forward to the time you spend with us. We sure look forward to it, and thank you for spending this time hanging out with us talking about art, heists and drinks. We will be right back here again next week with more of that Criminalia. Criminalia is a production of Shonda land Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from Shonda land Audio, Please visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.