An "Easter Egg" in Michelangelo's Last Judgement

As we are going to Italy and will be using art as a means of reaching out into the community, I have been studying some of the great Italian artists. Far and away, my favorite is Michelangelo. The works I like the best are his sculptures Pieta and David, and the scenes from the book of Genesis frescoed on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Another of his more interesting works of art is the painting, The Last Judgment, which is also in the Sistine Chapel right behind the pulpit, where the Pope stood to give Mass. During the project, the Pope's Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, opposed the depiction of nude figures in the chapel. In response, Michelangelo worked da Cesena's semblance into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld. (He's the demonic figure with the ears of a donkey in the lower right hand corner of painting.) Upset at this insult, he complained to the Pope telling him that Michelangelo had placed him in hell. The old Pope, who apparently had a sense of humor, is reported to have said, "That is too bad. If you were in purgatory, I could help you. But my jurisdiction does not extend to hell, so the portrait will have to remain."

While that is a funny story, the painting is not. It is, as its title declares, a depiction of the last judgment whereby Christ will separate those destined for a resurrected eternity with God and those destined for eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire with Satan and his demons. Because Hell is a real and literal place, we want to spread the Good News that there is an alternative to this place of agony -- the way to which God opened when He sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Lord, whether we are in the homeland of Michelangelo, or here in the "New World," help us to "snatch others from the fire and save them." (Jude 1:23)