Het laatste oordeel 1548

Nicolò della Casa created this engraving, titled "The Last Judgement," in the mid-16th century. Its swirling figures recall Michelangelo's fresco of the same subject in the Sistine Chapel. This work appeared in the context of the Catholic Reformation, when the church sought to reassert its authority after the rise of Protestantism. The engraving offered a powerful visual statement of orthodox Catholic belief and its imagery would have been immediately recognizable to contemporary viewers, drawing on a shared visual culture. However, the work also reflects the growing importance of printmaking as a means of disseminating images and ideas. Prints made art accessible to a wider audience beyond the elite circles of church and court, but they also raised new questions about artistic originality and authorship. By studying prints like this, and by comparing them to related works in other media, we can understand the complex social and cultural forces that shaped artistic production in the Renaissance.