GIOTTO di Bondone
(b. 1267, Vespignano, d. 1337, Firenze)

Last Judgment (detail)

1306
Fresco
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel), Padua

The ground has opened up and the naked people clamber out of their coffins. Some are still completely occupied with themselves or are helping one another; others have already raised their hands in prayer. They appear as full of hope as the ranks of the Blessed above them. There, men and women, representatives of the secular and the sacred, are accompanied on their ascent by angels. The differently formed, thoroughly individual heads seen in profile, the gazes, the posture of the hands and the whole bodies are focused as if spellbound on the higher goal.