From the upper air a company of angels descends, carrying a cross, a
crown of thorns, and other instruments of the Saviour's sufferings.
Below them is the Judge himself surrounded by the apostles and other
saints. Underneath are the archangels blowing their trumpets. On
earth, in the lowest part of the picture at the left, the dead rise
from their graves and ascend through the air to the Judge. At the
right, opposite the ascending dead, are the condemned sinners,
descending to the boat which will carry them over the river Styx into
the Inferno.

[Illustration: CENTRAL FIGURES OF THE LAST JUDGMENT. _Sistine Chapel,
Rome._]

Our illustration gives only the central figures in this great
multitude, the Divine Judge accompanied by his mother. He is a man of
mighty muscular power, young and handsome, with an expression of
imperious dignity. Enthroned on the clouds, he seems just rising from
a sitting posture to execute his judgments. He lifts his arms in a
sweeping motion as if to part the multitudes pressing upon him on both
sides. In so doing he shows the wound in his right side made by the
soldier's spear at the crucifixion. Neither expression nor gesture
manifests anger; those beautiful hands with delicately extended
fingers will strike no blow. The gesture itself is a command.

Beneath Christ's upraised arm, on his right side, sits his Mother
Mary. Each must interpret for himself her attitude and expression.
Some think that because she turns her face away she is shrinking from
her son in terror. Yet her expression is so gentle that others say she
is nestling close to him for protection. This is certainly as we