MEMLING, Hans
(b. ca. 1440, Seligenstadt, d. 1494, Bruges)

Last Judgment Triptych (detail)

1467-71
Oil on wood, 221 x 161 cm
Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk

Christ appears in evangelical guise seated on a rainbow, his feet resting on a gleaming golden globe, surrounded by the twelve apostles and the intercessors Mary and John the Baptist. They are all pictured on a cloud that continues left to the gates of paradise and right to the mouth of hell. The traditional angels with the instruments of the Passion hover in pairs above this divine assembly, while the four angels blowing their apocalyptic trumpets float somewhat randomly above the earth, one of them even appearing high up in the clouds of the right wing. The lily of mercy and the red-hot sword of justice on either side of Christ's head correspond symbolically with the upward gesture of blessing made by his right hand, and the downward one by his left.