Ascension of Jesus Christ

The iconography of representations related to the biblical event of the Ascension of Jesus to heaven has developed since the first centuries of Christianity in various variants. Jesus was often shown on a cloud or in a mandorla lifted by angels, accompanied by Mary, the apostles, often with his hand stretched out towards the manus Dei emerging from heaven. Late medieval art limited the depiction of the moment of the Ascension to Christ's footprints reflected on the rock and the apostles and Mary gazing towards heaven. The work of salvation has been fulfilled. Christ leaves the world of matter and enters the supernatural reality to sit at the right hand of God. At the same time, he marks the way to the Father's house for others by opening heaven. The Apostles and Mary look up to heaven with hope. They also represent the community in which Christ will continue to be present under the Eucharist. The relief of the Ascension expands the iconographic programme of the Wkryujście altar, which is mainly dedicated to the Passion. It is the concluding image of the history of Salvation. Except with the Resurrection and Pentecost scenes, it also introduces an ecclesiological theme related to the establishment of the universal church community and the principal truths of faith. The composition of the representation is modelled on an engraving by Hans Schäufelein, a German engraver and painter who worked in the workshops of Dürer and Hans Holbein, the Elder. The woodcut is part of a graphic cycle published in 1507 in the book Liber Passionis by Ulrich Pinder in Nuremberg.

Kinga Krasnodębska