The Last Judgment, 1467–1471 Death — and their fate in the afterlife loomed large in the minds of fifteenth-century Christians, and artists depicted their hopes and fears in vividly rendered scenes. In this painting by the German-Flemish artist Hans Memling c. 1433–1494), Christ and his apostles sit in judgment as the world ends and the dead rise from their graves. The archangel Michael weighs the souls of the dead in a balance to determine their final fate either eternal life with God in heaven or everlasting punishment in hell. Erich Lessing/ Art Resource, NY.
