The Last Judgment [reverse] c. 1468 - 1469

Bertoldo di Giovanni, working in Florence in the late fifteenth century, created this bronze roundel depicting The Last Judgement. The image represents a key moment in Christian eschatology when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. Florence at this time saw an unprecedented flourishing of the arts under the patronage of the Medici family. While ostensibly a republic, Florentine politics were heavily influenced by powerful families like the Medici, and artworks of this period often contain social and political undertones. Di Giovanni himself was a protégé of Lorenzo de Medici and it is likely this medallion was produced for a member of his circle. To understand the nuances of an artwork like this, historians often look to religious texts, social histories, and patronage records. The meaning of art is never fixed, but always shifts with its social and institutional context.