And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:5-8, KJV)
This surreslistic etching from the Belarus-based bookplate maker, Yuri Yakovenko, lends itself to many interpretations. We immediately recognize the thorn-crowned Jesus with downcast eyes in his Man of Sorrows mode, but who is this second foppish figure with beaded beard and horned headdress who surveys the humiliated Christ in such a contempuous, worldly-wise way? It might be King Herod with his demand for a show of miracles or Pontius Pilate sneering at Jesus's claim to a kingdom not of this world. I have a third candidate to suggest. This is Satan come back to remind Christ on the day of his Passion that the crown on his head might have been made of gold had he not refused to worship the Devil in the wilderness when he was offered earthly power and glory. This untitled piece,which I'm calling The Last Temptation, can be found on the East European Ex Libris page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)