The Last Judgment

After 1460
Manuscript miniature
The Getty Center
MS. Ludwig IX 9 (83 ML 105), fol. 149v

This image of what the Apostles' Creed calls the "resurrection of the dead" comes from I Corinthians 15:52: "…the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again incorruptible: and we shall be changed." The large figures on the left and right are the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, pleading for mankind. They are drawn from the Deësis image type and often appear in images of the resurrection of the dead. Some other images of this type will also have Mary cupping her breast (example), reminding the Lord of his humanity.

In other similar images the arc on which Christ sits is clearly a rainbow, referencing the description of the "one sitting upon the throne" in Revelation 4:3: "And he that sat, was to the sight like the jasper and the sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." In this case the entire world, symbolized by the globe he stands on, would be his throne.

The three resurrected persons who are clasping their hands in prayer presumably represent the saved souls. The other three, perhaps not.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.