The Last Judgment, 1536-1541
Michelangelo di Lodovico
Buonarroti Simoni (Michelangelo)
The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

Those watching the news in May this year, or the award-winning film Conclave, will have caught a glimpse of the stunning ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel. Painted by Michelangelo, they now oversee the events that result in the appointment of a new pope. On the wall behind the altar, facing all the cardinals as they deliberate and vote, is this momentous scene, drawn from the book of Revelation and Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia. Low in the centre, a flight of angels sound the trumpets that summon the dead from their graves. On the left, those destined for eternal life are raised upwards into paradise or heaven. Those judged to be damned are ushered towards the right-hand side of the scene where they are consigned to hell by the classical boatman, Charon. Central to the whole scene is the risen Christ. His hand is raised, showing the marks of his crucifixion. He is surrounded by saints and martyrs, and his mother Mary sits to his right.

This is no easy painting to adorn the walls of such a holy place. Art historian Kenneth Clark wrote, ‘That colossal nightmare, the Last Judgment, is made up of such struggles. It is the most overpowering accumulation in all art of bodies in violent movement.’ For centuries the cardinals have gathered before it to carry out their serious task. It may well cause them to consider their decisions in the light of eternity….

Art in Focus is curated by Meryl Doney

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This is from an article published in the Issue 4 – 2025 edition of Reform

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