LAST JUDGMENT

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Michelangelo

Last Judgment

Sistine Chapel

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The Vision of the Last Judgment
Petworth House, The National Trust

William Blake and Michelangelo each created images of the Last Judgment. Despite Blake's admiration for Michelangelo, he interpreted the scene in a different style to portray different content. Michelangelo's primary art was his sculpting which influenced his painting. Blake was trained as an engraver which determined the way that he painted.

Michelangelo's figures have bulk and weight while Blake's are light and flowing. The physical body is displayed by Michelangelo, the ethereal body by Blake. The image of Jesus shown by Michelangelo is that of a human man in the center of the drama. Blake's Jesus is clothed in light and reigns in heaven removed from the earthly activity. 

Kathleen Raine in Golgonooza: City of Imagination states that "in comparing Blake's Vision of the Last Judgment with that of Michelangelo - to whom Blake was so obviously and so deeply indebted - we are comparing a historical and ecclesiastical with a mystical understanding of the Apocalypse. As we compare the works of these two great Christian artists, each totally dedicated to the religion they professed, we discover that the many differences of overall conception and of detail do correspond to differences in each 'according to the situation he holds.'"(Page 145)

Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 554)
"The Last Judgment when all those are Cast away who trouble
Religion with Questions concerning Good & Evil or Eating of the
Tree of those Knowledges or Reasonings which hinder the Vision of
God turning all into a Consuming fire    Imaginative Art &
Science & all Intellectual Gifts all the Gifts of the Holy Ghost
are lookd upon as of no use & only Contention
remains to Man   then the Last Judgment begins & its Vision is seen
by the Imaginative Eye of Every one according to the
situation he holds
    The Last Judgment is not Fable or Allegory
but Vision"

Descriptive Catalogue, (E 544)
 "Poetry as it exists
now on earth, in the various remains of ancient authors, Music as
it exists in old tunes or melodies, Painting and Sculpture as it
exists in the remains of Antiquity and in the works of more
modern genius, is Inspiration, and cannot be surpassed; it is
perfect and eternal.  Milton, Shakspeare, Michael Angelo, Rafael,
the finest specimens of Ancient Sculpture and Painting, and
Architecture, Gothic, Grecian, Hindoo and Egyptian, are the
extent of the human mind.  The human mind cannot go beyond the
gift of God, the Holy Ghost.  To suppose that Art can go beyond
the finest specimens of Art that are now in the world, is not
knowing what Art is; it is being blind to the gifts of the
spirit."