The Last Judgment

Two nuns paid for this Last Judgment and had themselves painted into it. Near the bottom, before the walls of the Heavenly Jerusalem, are the abbess Costanza and the nun Benedetta, each named by an inscription. The panel was made in Rome in the second half of the 12th century for the oratory of San Gregorio Nazianzeno, which belonged to a community of nuns.

Its shape is unusual, a great disc set on a rectangular base, nearly three metres tall. Across it the Judgment unfolds in five bands, one above the other, each explained by a line of Latin. At the top Christ appears among cherubim and angels. Below, he stands before an altar with two angels and the 12 apostles. The third band is the busiest. Saint Paul leads the chosen on the left, the Virgin and Saint Stephen plead for the Holy Innocents in the middle, and on the right are three works of mercy, clothing the naked, visiting prisoners and giving drink to the thirsty. In the fourth band the dead rise from their graves.

At the bottom Hell lies on one side, and on the other the Heavenly Jerusalem, where the Virgin prays among the chosen.