The Last Judgment

Artist: Michelangelo

Year: 1536-1541

Location: Sistine Chapel, Rome

Medium: Fresco

Dimensions: 539.3in by 472.4in 

“The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, ⁸ dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, ¹⁰ when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed. ¹¹ To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, ¹² so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”    ~ 2 Thess. 7-12

The Fresco of The Last Judgment, painted by Michelangelo, is a depiction of the day when Christ will come to judge the earth and all the people in it. It took Michelangelo four years to complete this fresco and this was done almost twenty years after the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel had also been completed by him. This is a great portrayal of how art had changed so much just within the span of twenty years. “Although the ceiling expressed God’s love and the promise of salvation, now pessimism broods” (Art Past Art Present, 334). Christ is a menacing ruler, his wrath is being acted out against the wicked and even those closest to him tremble in fear. Mary is shown on his right side and she cowers at his judgment.  Michelangelo’s biographer, Condivi, wrote that Mary is “slightly timid in appearance and almost as if uncertain of the wrath and mystery of God” (Art Past, 334).

In addition to Mary, Jesus is surrounded by the martyrs; each holding one of the weapons used to torture and kill them. Saint Bartholomew is the most obvious of all of them as he is holding his flayed skin in his left hand and the knife in his right hand. At the bottom of the painting are the dead of the underworld. To Jesus’ left side are the dead being raised and then to His left are the tortured sinners descending into the inferno of hell.

When standing in the Sistine Chapel and looking at The Last Judgment it is as if it is the fresco is jumping out of the wall at the viewer. It is almost an overpowering sight as there are so many figures and so much detail to the entire painting. It is a work of art that few could master and it was obvious at the time that Michelangelo was the only one to be trusted to do it. As Condivi said, “In this work Michelangelo expressed all that the art of painting can do with the human figure, leaving out no attitude or gesture” (Art Past, 335).