Last Judgment images are based on Matthew 25:31-46 (cached): the Son of Man sits enthroned in Heaven while the dead rise from their tombs on earth, the saved on his right and the damned on his left. The former are conducted to Heaven by angels, the latter to Hell by devils.
The Last Judgment is a common theme in medieval tympana (example).
Some Last Judgments include the psychostasy -- St. Michael weighs the souls while devils try to interfere (example). In the early 12th century Last Judgment at Espalion, the presider in the psychostasy seems to be not Michael but a cat-like grotesque.
At left, a detail from the west tympanum at the Church of St. Foi, Conques, one of the most fully elaborated visions of the Last Judgment
Other images:
Tympanum
at Notre Dame
de Paris
Detail of the Psychostasy from the Autun Tympanum
Giotto's "Last Judgment"
Detail of the Psychostasy from the Autun Tympanum
Giotto's "Last Judgment"
Also see:
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