aying his flayed skin. There is
likewise a nude figure of S. Laurence; besides which, there are
multitudes of Saints without number, both male and female, and other
figures, men and women, around Him, near or distant, who embrace one
another and make rejoicing, having received eternal blessedness by the
grace of God and as the reward of their works. Beneath the feet of
Christ are the Seven Angels with the Seven Trumpets described by S.
John the Evangelist, who, as they sound the call to judgment, cause
the hair of all who behold them to stand on end at the terrible wrath
that their countenances reveal. Among others are two Angels that have
each the Book of Life in the hands: and near them, on one side, not
without beautiful consideration, are seen the Seven Mortal Sins in the
forms of Devils, assailing and striving to drag down to Hell the souls
that are flying towards Heaven, all with very beautiful attitudes and
most admirable foreshortenings. Nor did he hesitate to show to the
world, in the resurrection of the dead, how they take to themselves
flesh and bones once more from the same earth, and how, assisted by
others already alive, they go soaring towards Heaven, whence succour
is brought to them by certain souls already blessed; not without
evidence of all those marks of consideration that could be thought to
be required in so great a work. For studies and labours of every kind
were executed by him, which may be recognized throughout the whole
work without exception; and this is manifested with particular
clearness in the barque of Charon, who, in an attitude of fury,
strikes with his oars at the souls dragged down by the Devils into the
barque, after the likeness of the picture that the master's
best-beloved poet, Dante, described when he said--

Caron demonio con occhi di bragia,
Loro accennando, tutte le raccoglie,
Batte col remo qualunque si adagia.

[Illustration: CHARON'S BOAT: DETAIL FROM THE LAST JUDGMENT

(_After the fresco by =Michelangelo=. Rome: The Vatican, Sistine
Chapel_)

_Anderson_]

Nor would it be possible to imagine how much variety there is in the
heads of those Devils, which are truly monsters from Hell. In the
sinners may be seen sin and the fear of eternal damnation; and, to say
nothing of the beauty of every detail, it is extraordinary to see so
great a work executed with such harmony of painting, that it appears
as if done in one day, and with such finish as wa