Culturally transformative impacts from the reformation in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment (1530s) and Liang Qichao’s New People Theory (1902)

Normally when we think of the Reformation, we consider matters re- lated to German and French movements in the sixteenth century, among other places in western and northern Europe. Nevertheless, there were other “reformations” as well that took place in southern Europe, and their total impact left a refracted impact even in traditional China at the beginning of the twentieth century. Consequently, in this article, I explore the impact of the Italian Reformation on the special mural work dealing with The Last Judgment painted by Michelangelo on the altar wall within the Sistine Chapel and consider how the well-known Ruist reformer, Liang Qichao, interpreted the life and work of Martin Luther.