The Last Judgment
The Last Judgment
Michelangelo (Sistine Chapel, Vatican City)
1534-41. Paint on plaster, 14.6 x 13.41 m.
The Last Judgment, originally commissioned by Pope Clement VII and later renewed by Pope Paul III, concluded Michelangelo’s array of frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in 1541, roughly twenty-five years after he completed the chapel ceiling (Vatican Museums). This immense fresco stretches across the entire altar wall and depicts the moments just before the final judgment, which, according to the Book of Revelation, occurs when Jesus returns in the Second Coming of Christ at the end of the world. As part of Jesus’s return, God eternally judges and properly places all of humankind in the world to come. Though the last judgment was a commonly depicted motif in Renaissance artwork, Michelangelo drew on influences from vernacular Italian literature, Neoplatonic thought, and arguably scientific theories to distinguish his piece from those that preceded it, while still encouraging the proper beliefs of the Catholic church (Shrimplin 617).
In The Last Judgment, Michelangelo painted a robust figure of Jesus in the center of the fresco with the bright glow of the sun emanating from behind him. The Virgin Mary crouches beside Jesus and the Elect stand on a slightly lower plane, reinforcing the traditional Christian notion that the fate of humankind rests solely in God’s hands, beyond the realm of human control (Vatican Museums). Yet, at the same time, the incredible variation in the facial expressions of all those in the painting portrays an individualistic psychological experience of the after-life, rather than a generalized, collective and controlled experience of humankind.
Though this painting specifically captures the moments leading up to the final judgment, it also foreshadows the outcome of the judgment, in which the good are saved and the wicked are sent to hell for eternity. It was particularly unusual for a scene like the last judgment, which contains images of hell, to be painted near an altar in a chapel (Shrimplin 96). The placement of a fresco containing such a stark contrast between good and evil may have been strategic, as it was commissioned when the Catholic church was threatened by newly gained momentum among Protestant reformers (Hall 89). The cardinals sat in the front row of the church services, closest to the painting; thus, the most powerful members of the Catholic church were constantly reminded of the rewards their “right beliefs” would give them upon their deaths. These daunting depictions of the after-life harshly reminded the orthodox of their need to remain devout, supporting members of the “right” church.
Within the painting’s compositional arrangement, Jesus can be seen at the center, pointing to the right with his left hand, leading the viewer’s eyes to a scene in which partially decomposed bodies resurrect from the ground, climb clouds with the help of angels, and ascend into the next world of paradise. The face of Jesus, though marked by an ambiguous expression, is turned to his left, prompting viewers to follow his line of sight to the far right corner of the painting where the damned struggle. The grisly, dark scene of the damned shows Charon on the river of Acheron, dragging resistant and horrified humans onto his boat to Hades. This classical depiction of the underworld likely stems from Michelangelo’s familiarity with Dante’s literature (Barnes 72). In his highly influential book regarding the after-life, Divina Commedia, Dante incorporates the same Greek mythological characters and symbols to depict his dramatic vision of hell (72). Though Dante describes Charon as an old man, Michelangelo paints Charon as a beast-like creature, perhaps to evoke a stronger emotional response of fear from viewers (72).
In the spacing of the fresco, Michelangelo followed the tradition of painting the saved to the right of Jesus with the damned on his left, and heaven above with hell below (Shrimplin 613). However, the depiction of Jesus as the sun at the center of everything is far from traditional and may have been inspired by Michelangelo’s brief time at a humanist school of Neoplatonic thought. In the sixth book of The Republic, Plato wrote an analogy of the sun, referring to it as the “Form of the Good,” and asserting that the sun represents all that is good, true and beautiful in the world (Shrimplin 630). In the Christian tradition, God is the source of all things good, true and beautiful. By painting Jesus as the sun – the source of light at the center – Michelangelo combined elements of Catholicism and Neoplatonic philosophy to assert the divine power of Jesus.
The spacing of previous and traditional biblical paintings included Jesus at the very top of compositions with no other figures above him, so as to assert a hierarchal order of the universe with Heaven first, then earth, and then Hell. In older paintings of the same motif (particularly when the world was thought to be flat) horizontal tiers clearly divided and highlighted these orders of the universe (Shrimplin 613). By placing Jesus at the center of the painting with angels swirling around above his head, Michelangelo defied this method of division. Michelangelo asserts Jesus’s divine power in a new way, as everything in the painting connects back to Jesus via diagonal lines that trace back to the center of the composition, rather than through horizontal tiers leading up to the top. Some scholars have speculated that this placement of Christ at the center and not at the top of the piece indicates Michelangelo’s knowledge of a sun-centered, spherical universe (621). Contrary to popular belief, Copernicus’s theory of a heliocentric universe was not immediately condemned by the Catholic church, and Pope Clement VII asked his private secretary to explain Copernicus’s theories in the Vatican in 1533, long before Copernicus formally published them in 1543 (634). Though the Pope’s interest in these ideas does not equate to his acceptance of them, there is evidence Michelangelo knew and spoke with the cardinals to whom Copernicus’ theories were explained before his ideas were released to the public (634). Thus, it is possible Michelangelo was aware of this revolutionary scientific knowledge and that it influenced his perception of the universe and his portrayal of it in The Last Judgment.
Despite lacking an extensive formal education, Michelangelo’s brief exposure to the varied yet complementary fields of the liberal arts proved to be highly influential, as it inspired him to independently learn and, in turn, draw upon his grasp of literature, science, and philosophy to essentially reimagine the scene of the last judgment. Following the Sack of Rome and preceding the Council of Trent, the completion of The Last Judgment fell during a critical time for the survival of the Catholic church (Hall 86). The spacing within the composition, the placement of the fresco itself within the chapel, and the use of classical symbolism all point to Michelangelo having incorporated his impressive knowledge of Italian literature, Neoplatonic and Catholic thought, and science to create and enhance The Last Judgment, all while strategically reinforcing the strength of the Catholic church.
List of Works Cited
Barnes, Bernadine. Metaphorical Painting: Michelangelo, Dante, and the Last Judgment. The Art Bulletin. 77.1 (1995): 65–81. Web.
Hall, Marcia B. Michelangelo's Last Judgment: Resurrection of the Body and Predestination. The Art Bulletin. 58.1 (1976): 85–92. Web.
"Italian and Other European Art (Scala Archives)." Italian and Other European Art (Scala Archives). ARTstor Collections, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.
Shrimplin, Valerie. Hell in Michelangelo's ‘Last Judgment’. Artibus et Historiae 15.30 (1994): 83–107. Web.
Shrimplin, Valerie. Sun-symbolism and Cosmology in Michelangelo's Last Judgment. The Sixteenth Century Journal 21.4 (1990): 607–644. Web.
"The Last Judgement." The Last Judgement. Vatican Museums, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.