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

Bertoldo di Giovanni

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art