Last Judgment and the Burying of the Dead c. 1560 - 1570

Bernard van Orley created this panel painting of The Last Judgement in the first half of the sixteenth century. The dominant theme in the image is Christian salvation. Van Orley painted this image in the Netherlands, a place and time deeply marked by religious upheaval, and his choice of subject should be understood in this context. While there are many traditional elements in the painting, such as the figure of Christ in Majesty surrounded by angels, the scene of ‘burying the dead’ in the foreground suggests more earthly concerns. The painting presents the viewer with the idea that Judgement is an ongoing social process. As art historians, we aim to understand the nuances of its meaning, researching the social and intellectual context in which it was made. This means looking at the artist's life, the cultural debates of the time, and the institutions that shaped artistic production. Art always speaks to the conditions of its own making.