Editing Last Judgment (section)

===Artistic representations===
{{main|Doom paintings}}
[[Image:NorthLeigh Doom1.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Doom painting]], [[St Mary's Church, North Leigh|St Mary's Church]], [[North Leigh]], [[Oxfordshire]], 15th century]]
[[Image:Armenian icon 27, Last Judgment, 1679.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Armenian manuscript depicts the Last Judgment, 1679.]]
In art, the Last Judgment is a common theme in medieval and renaissance religious iconography. Like most early iconographic innovations, its origins stem from [[Byzantine art]], although it was a less common subject than in the West during the Middle Ages.<ref>Remarkably, only three Byzantine icons of the subject survive, all at [[St Catherine's Monastery]]. Daly, 252</ref> In Western Christianity, it is often the subject depicted in medieval cathedrals and churches, either outside on the central [[Pediment|tympanum]] of the entrance or inside on the (rear) west wall, so that the congregation attending church saw the image on either entering or leaving.

In the 15th century it also appeared as the central section of a [[triptych]] on [[altarpiece]]s, with the side panels showing heaven and hell, as in the [[Beaune Altarpiece]] or a [[The Last Judgment (Memling)|triptych by Hans Memling]]. The usual composition has Christ seated high in the centre, flanked by angels, the [[Virgin Mary]], and [[John the Evangelist]] who are supplicating on behalf of those being judged (in what is called a [[Deesis]] group in Orthodoxy). [[Saint Michael]] is often shown, either weighing the deceased on scales or directing matters, and there might be a large crowd of saints, angels, and the saved around the central group.

[[File:Second Coming by G.Klontzas (16th c.).jpg |thumb|300 px|left|''[[The Last Judgment (Klontzas)|The Last Judgment]]'' by [[Georgios Klontzas]] late 1500s]]
At the bottom of the composition a crowd of the deceased are shown, often with some rising from their graves. These are being sorted and directed by angels into the saved and the damned. Almost always the saved are on the viewer's left (so on the right hand of Christ), and the damned on the right. The saved are led up to [[heaven]], often shown as a [[fortified gateway]], while the damned are handed over to devils who herd them down into [[hell]] on the right; the composition therefore has a circular pattern of movement. Often the damned disappear into a [[Hellmouth]], the mouth of a huge monster, an image of [[Anglo-Saxon art|Anglo-Saxon]] origin. The damned often include figures of high rank, wearing crowns, mitres, and often the [[Papal tiara]] during the lengthy periods when there were [[antipopes]], or in Protestant depictions. There may be detailed depictions of the torments of the damned.

[[Image:Last Judgment (Povolzhie).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4|Last Judgment (Russia, 18th century)]]The most famous Renaissance depiction is [[Michelangelo Buonarroti]]'s [[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|''The Last Judgment'']] in the [[Sistine Chapel]]. Included in this fresco is his self-portrait, as [[Bartholomew|St. Bartholomew]]'s [[flaying|flayed]] skin.<ref>{{cite book |last=Janson |first=H. W. |author-link=H. W. Janson |title=History of Art |edition=Second |author2-first=Dora Jane |author2-last=Janson |author2-link=Dora Jane Janson |publisher=Prentis-Hall & Harry N. Abrams |location=Englewood and New York |year=1977 |pages=428 |isbn=978-0-13-389296-3}}</ref>

The image in [[Eastern Orthodox]] [[icon]]s has a similar composition, but usually less space is devoted to hell, and there are often a larger number of scenes; the Orthodox readiness to label figures with inscriptions often allows more complex compositions. There is more often a large group of saints around Christ (which may include animals), and the [[hetoimasia]] or "empty throne", containing a cross, is usually shown below Christ, often guarded by archangels; figures representing [[Adam and Eve]] may kneel below it or below Christ. A distinctive feature of the Orthodox composition, especially in Russian icons, is a large band leading like a chute from the feet of Christ down to hell; this may resemble a striped snake or be a "river of Fire" coloured flame red. If it is shown as a snake, it attempts to bite Adam on the heel but, as he is protected by Christ, is unsuccessful.