Michelangelos Last Judgment – Term Paper

Last Judgment by Michelangelo depicts how the Christ would decide the fate of humanity. The last judgment is also an interpretation of harrowing, whereby the Christ leads others to hell and others to heaven.  Michelangelo makes a work of art, which Pope Paul III commissions him and which end up illustrating his initial intent though depicting some biblical concepts. This paper tends to outline how the last judgment reflected a change in Michelangelo’s beliefs.

Michelangelo realizes from the last judgment that he should focus on the issues of Christianity and works more on personal salvation. By doing so, he tends to prove why his beliefs focus on the Christ. The shift shows a change is a belief, whereby he initially had a strong belief in the Platonic traditions in which Plato influenced his way of operation among other Neo-Platonists.

The last judgment shows salvation and damnation are different conflicting forces which the Christ tend to separate. The extent to which violence applies in the division of the two indicates that they belong to different masters. Michelangelo had a different belief based on this in which he could visualize the two forces moving towards each. The last judgment indicated that the believers would proceed to heaven, and the sinners would move to hell. Therefore the artist tended to seek righteousness.

The last judgment is a completion of the Sistine Chapel decorative program that emphasizes on the second coming of Jesus Christ. He stops focusing on the beginning and the entire life of Jesus but emphasizes on the end. Through the last judgment, he succeeds to fill the gap between the life and the coming of Jesus hence he must have changed to believe in the coming of Jesus.