The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Vertically oriented print in black ink of a man seated on a floating orb printed with stars and a bisecting band with the symbols of the zodiac, at the base of which nude people gather, their backs to us and throwing their arms up towards the man on the orb. The man is flanked by rows of people surrounded by clouds and gestures to the side with his right hand, left palm facing out.

The Last Judgment

c. 1526

Hans Holbein the Younger

(German, active England and Switzerland, 1497/98–1543)
Germany
woodcut
Sheet: 7 x 4.6 cm (2 3/4 x 1 13/16 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1929.170
Catalogue raisonné: Passavant vol.3.366.39
Location: Not on view

Description

In this final, dramatic episode in Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death series Christ sits on high, surrounded by heavenly figures, poised to send the resurrected dead to their ultimate destinations of heaven or hell. The end of humanity’s time on Earth connects with its beginnings: bodies here are as naked and vulnerable as those of Adam and Eve at the Creation. Awakened from their graves and reanimated, the dead raise their hands beseechingly to Christ. Those judged to have lived virtuously will go to their resurrection, a sort of spiritual rebirth in heaven, while the sinful face eternal torment.
  • "Woodcuts: Dance of Death Series by Hans Holbein the Younger." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 16, no. 8 (October 1929): 141-151. Mentioned: p. 141 www.jstor.org
  • Creation, Birth, and Rebirth. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17, 2024-July 16, 2025).
    Exhibition of Prints by the Little Masters: Prints form the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-April 24, 1938).
  • {{cite web|title=The Last Judgment|url=false|author=Hans Holbein the Younger|year=c. 1526|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.170