The Last Judgment, Heaven, and Hell by Giovanni di Paolo was probably the predella of an unknown polyptych painted in the 1460s.

From its first depictions around the year 1000, the Last Judgment has been confined by Heaven, to the right of Christ, and Hell, to the left. In a rich palette, the serenity of the lives of the Elect is reflected in two registers in which the characters are seen embracing. Conversely, the chaos of hell is demonstrated by a disordered composition based on a more sober and sombre palette, while the motif is taken from an altarpiece by Fra Angelico painted thirty years earlier. The lack of iconographic precedent for the pensive woman at Christ's feet makes it difficult to ascribe satisfactory significance to her.

Heaven is populated by a crowd of couples embracing, indicating a life of happiness after salvation. They include various religious orders: Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, but also elegantly dressed aristocrats, a cardinal and a host of other characters.

This painting is characteristic of the mature works of Giovanni di Paolo The Gothic ideal to which he adheres does not preclude the adaptation of some contemporary Florentine innovations. He retains the principle of a unified predella, which appeared in the middle of the 15th century, although the habitual tripartition is once again induced by the composition of the panel. The theory of perspective that emerged in Florence in the 1430s did not interest Giovanni di Paolo, who maintained a Gothic spatialisation dominated by the superimposition of various levels.

Gold leaf still symbolises the sacredness of the halos but the motif has a new development in Sienese painting, indicative of an interest in perspective that nevertheless respects the artist’s Gothic style. Similarly Heaven is full of naked children or putti, a motif that enjoyed great success among artists of the Renaissance in Florence, but here they are treated in a graphic and lively style that retains the traits of Sienese Gothic. The characters are shaped by the light but cast no shadow and their silhouettes are still deliberately elongated in tune with the Gothic principle. Interest in the nude, this critical rediscovery of the contemporary Renaissance, is also associated with a continuation of the Gothic codes cherished by the artist.

The decorative profusion and descriptive detail turn this predella into a vast illumination with a magical atmosphere.