THE VISUAL MANIFESTATIONS OF ANGER, FEAR AND OTHER TRAGIC EMOTIONS IN THE NETHERLANDS AND GERMANY’S ALTAR PAINTINGS OF THE XVTH AND XVITH CC.

The most tragic emotions were perceived usually as antisocial in the Middle Ages. There was often the link between the emotions and the seven dead sins. However, the perception of these emotions could change under the influence of the situation. Sometimes tragic emotions could become logical or even useful for an individual. This aspect in the visualization of such feelings drew the spectator‘s attention especially in the Renaissance altarpieces. That is worthy to consider some fundamental emotions such as anger, sorrow, fear and so on in the context of the German and Netherlandish masters ‘works of the 15th – early 16th centuries. The main topics of the considered masterpieces are the Passion of Christ and the Last Judgment. The interdisciplinary nature of this paper allows to broaden the understanding of how compositional techniques, the color choice and even the format of the picture affect the visualization of emotions in religious works. Some Netherlandish and German masters had a narrative aim creating a scene from the cycle of the Passion of Christ, others – an expressive-symbolic aim. However, the analysis of the works of the 15th – 16th centuries’ artists considering the psychology of emotions provides new opportunities for understanding the artistic and social context of the existence of the altarpiece.