Group from the Last Judgment, Angels Carrying the Column of the Flagellation and the Sponge and Ladder of the Crucifixion
16th century
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 9 5/16 × 16 7/8 in. (23.7 × 42.8 cm) Plate (lunette shape): 7 11/16 × 16 7/8 in. (19.5 × 42.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.596.23
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking 16th-century engraving a dramatic vignette from Michelangelo Buonarroti monumental *Last Judgment* fresco on the Sistine Chapel's altar wall, completed between 1536 and 1541. Titled *Group from the Last Judgment Angels Carrying the Column of the Flagellation and the Sponge and Ladder of the Crucifixion*, it depicts muscular angels triumphantly bearing key instruments of Christ's Passion—the column where Jesus was scourged, the sponge offered on a reed, and the ladder used in his crucifixion. These symbols evoke the emotional intensity and theological depth of Michelangelo's vision of divine judgment, blending High Renaissance grandeur with emerging Mannerist dynamism. Engraved by Domenico del Barbiere, a skilled Italian printmaker who faithfully reproduced Michelangelo's designs, the work exemplifies the era's intaglio technique. Using a burin to incise fine lines into a metal plate, del Barbiere created intricate details and tonal depth, allowing the fresco's sculptural figures to leap off the page. Its lunette shape mirrors the chapel's architecture, making it a portable souvenir of the Vatican masterpiece. Such prints were revolutionary, democratizing access to elite art for collectors across Europe and preserving Michelangelo's revolutionary style amid Counter-Reformation fervor. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Elisha Whittelsey Collection, this piece invites us to ponder salvation's drama through masterful lines that still pulse with Renaissance vitality.
About the Artist
Michelangelo Buonarroti|Domenico del Barbiere · 1475–1564
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564) stands as the quintessential figure of the Italian High Renaissance, a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet whose mastery across disciplines embodied the era's humanist ideals. Born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese within the Republic of Florence to a modest family—his father, Lodovico di Buonarroti Simoni, served as a minor magistrate—Michelang...