Like most Last Judgement images, Jesus (at center with aura and stigmata) is casting judgement over the people, but this is not the Last Judgement we are used to seeing. Jesus is full-on nude (a rarity in art history) and holding what looks like some kind of medieval torture device, which is a common motif in Ferri’s work. Although the figures are somewhat ambiguous, those on the left side of the image seem to be associated with the Good. An elderly man on a white robe floats above and the placement of his hand evokes the image of God in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel. Below him are a butterfly and a couple redheads, one of whom has a butterfly wing protruding from her back. Butterflies are typically associated with the Resurrection in Christianity, because like Jesus, they too are reborn from the cocoon. On the right side of the image things get darker in tone. Serpents protrude from veins and orifices of the condemned souls who writhe in pain, while the devil (and his sexy girlfriend) perched above oversees the melee of eternal torture.
