Samuel Colman specialised in apocalyptic paintings. Colman
was a Nonconformist: a Protestant who opposed the
Established Church, in this case the Church of England. Not
surprisingly, this painting shows the embodiment of
state-run religion – a Gothic cathedral – being destroyed,
with its inhabitants cowering in terror. Resurrected spirits
rise from the ground and assemble in the sky above. The
cathedral’s stone cross, representing
established religion, crashes to the
ground, silhouetted by a blood-red
horizon. Meanwhile the true
cross, the symbol of Christ’s sacrifice and of eternal life
and here representing pure faith,
appears in the brilliant celestial light.
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