The Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment (reverse); Portrait Medal of Filippo de' Medici, Archbishop of Pisa (obverse)

Bertoldo di Giovanni

ca. 1468–69 · Bronze · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Even in the 1530s, Michelangelo looked back at the work of his mentor Bertoldo for inspiration. The design of the Last Judgment fresco borrows some elements from the reverse of this fifteenth-century sculptor’s portrait medal of Filippo de’ Medici. As the inscriptions on the medal suggest, the composition combines two religious subjects, the Resurrection of the Dead (or Resurrection of the Flesh) and the Last Judgment, and a similar theme prevails in Michelangelo’s fresco.

Artist

Bertoldo di Giovanni

Date

ca. 1468–69

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Italian, Florence

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1974