This is Giotto’s Last Judgement. Just look at it and see what this is all about. Fire and brimstone, the purification of the soul and the alchemical reaction.
Here is the traditional interpretation:
The top part shows Heaven, with Jesus in the middle and the apostles at both sides. Jesus is casting the Last Judgment. The lower part shows the chosen, who will be escorted to Heaven, and the doomed, who will be cast into Hell. The archangels Michael and Raphael are holding the cross in the middle.
But I much rather view it as this:
Brimstone stands for (alchemical) sulphur, which represents the spirit of life. So what we are looking it is the Christ ( represented by Jesus), casting out the demons with the fire (of spirit), by taking them on. Not fight them, but bring it into the light. We see the cross, which signifies the spiritual path of surrender. ” God so loved the world that he gave his only son”. The two angels represent healing (Raphael) and battle (Michael), leading God’s army against the Satan.
It is possible that Dante, the great Renaissance poet and an acquaintance of Giotto’s, was inspired by this depiction of Hell when he wrote Inferno.
Giotto ” Last Judgement” ca 1306
The Living Room 