Last Judgement and the seven Acts of Mercy

Bernard van Orley painted this Last Judgement and Seven Acts of Mercy around 1521, combining apocalyptic imagery with the charitable works that medieval theology held as paths to salvation. As Brussels' leading painter, van Orley received the most important commissions Bernard van Orley introduced Italian Renaissance elements into Flemish painting, serving as court painter in Brussels and designing celebrated tapestry cycles Egg tempera on panel was the dominant technique of the period, demandi

The panel demonstrates van Orley's synthesis of Netherlandish detail with Italian monumentality, organizing the complex dual subject with the spatial grandeur of his mature Brussels style.