The Last Judgment

Inscriptions

Inscribed, in plate, lower right: leonardus gaultier fecit

Label

Léonard Gaultier’s Last Judgment was produced nearly a century after Michelangelo’s depiction of the Second Coming of Christ in the Sistine Chapel. Gaultier’s composition includes the Italian painter’s portrait at the top. In the center, Jesus stands with the Virgin Mary, displaying his wounds from the Crucifixion and emanating light. On either side, the dead people are sorted to their fates—saved or damned. Key symbols include the cross from the Crucifixion in the upper left; the pillar from the Flagellation of Christ in the upper right; and prominent saints surrounding Christ, such as Saint Bartholomew holding his flayed skin and Saint Catherine with her broken wheel. This engraving is an example of quasi-propagandic religious imagery that circulated both in Europe and its colonies, where it became subject to further adaptation by painters, such as those based in the Convent of San Francisco in Cuzco, Peru. 

Written by Ellie Brown, ‘25

From the 2023 exhibition Faith and Empire: The Legacy of Conversion and Commerce in the Early Modern World, curated by students of ARTH 20.04, "Faith and Empire: Art in the Early Modern World" taught by Elizabeth Rice Mattison, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Academic Programming

Course History

ARTH 48.07, Michaelangelo's Modernism, Allan Doyle, Spring 2019

Art History 20.04, Faith and Empire, Beth Mattison, Spring 2023

Art History 20.04, Faith and Empire, Beth Mattison, Spring 2023

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 32, Sacrilege and Idolatry: Religious Images in 16th-Century Europe, Brittany M. Beth, Class of 2006, Student Programming Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 23-July 19, 2006.

A Space for Dialogue 67, Continuity of the Spiritual: Old and Modern Masters, Karysa Norris, Class of 2012, Class of 1954 Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 7-February 5, 2012.

Faith and Empire: The Legacy of Conversion and Commerce in the Early Modern World, Class of 1967 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, August 12-December 23, 2023.

Publication History

Brittany M. Beth, A Space for Dialogue 32, Sacrilege and Idolatry: Religious Images in 16th Century Europe, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2006, ill. p. 3.

Karysa Norris, A Space for Dialogue 67, Continuity of the Spiritual: Old and Modern Masters, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2011, ill. p. 3.

Provenance

Antiquarius, Rome, Italy; sold to present collection, 2005.

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