Last Judgment Triptych

Last Judgment Triptych (The Last Judgment)
Artist: Hans Memling;
Oil painting on panel; Size: 221x161 cm; Muzeum Narodowe, Gdansk.

The Last Judgment is a triptych which was painted by Hans Memling during 1467 and 1471. The painting was commissioned by an agent of the Medici at Bruges but was captured by a privateer from Poland.
The central panel shows Christ sitting in Judgment on the world, while St Michael the Archangel is weighing souls and driving the Damned towards Hell. On the left hand panel, the Saved are being guided into Heaven by St Peter and Angels. On the right-hand panel, the Damned are being dragged to Hell.
From the stylistic viewpoint, the figure of Christ, for the one and only time in Memling's career, is almost a copy of the Christ in a polyptych by van der Weyden. The painter has taken great care over representation of the perspective, the light and the reflections (especially on the globe and on the archangel's armor). Many of the elect have realistic features, suggesting that some personages had had their portraits inserted into the painting.