Surprisingly enough, the Last Judgment itself occupies only a small part of the central panel. The sky is represented as a small blue sphere with Christ in the center. The majority of the panel shows the ruined land where countless sinners left behind are tortured in cruel and bizarre ways. Bosch's style is unique in this depiction because creatures of this nature had not yet been seen in large-scale Flemish painting. However, similar figures appeared in illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, such as the Hours of Catherine of Cleves (Gibson 57). This 15th-century manuscript features an image of hell, which contains creatures that resemble Bosch's. (Figure Y). For example, the main figure features a beast, whose mouth forms the face of another monster. (See detail) These bizarre transformations of figures in illuminated manuscripts are the precursors of Bosch's life-size nightmare painting