"By His Ascension He is now always everywhere."
Galba Psalter, Reims (France), 1st quarter of the 9th century
The Ascension of the Lord is a Solemnity in the calendar of the Church, a feast-day of the highest rank. By the 11th century several different patterns had developed to depict the event.
The elements common to all the compositions are the gathering of the apostles, usually with Mary, two angels, and the Lord rising to Heaven.
In the first pattern, the apostles are gathered with Mary. They are shown full figure, in the middle ground, gazing upward. Behind and above them are the two admonishing angels (men of Galilee why are you looking up to Heaven?) Above them two additional angels carry the Lord up to Heaven. Jesus is shown as The Christ in Majesty. He is seated on a throne. One hand holds a book while the other is raised in blessing. He is enclosed within an almond-shaped mandorla. The mandorla defines the highest Heaven, the realm of God alone. Like the apostles, Christ is also drawn as a full, complete figure.
Overall the composition is composed and sedate, there is very little suggestion of movement.
Benedictional of St Æthelwold, Winchester, c. 971–984
A second type of Ascension is much more animated. It shows Christ climbing the clouds up to Heaven, unaided by angels. He may be reaching up to grasp the hand of God which emerges from the clouds. The mandorla is still present and, like the first example, all the figures are full and complete.
A third pattern emerged around the year one thousand and quickly became a standard in the iconography of the Gothic tradition. Here only part of Christ is seen, it may be the lower half of His body with the upper half hidden in the clouds, or the viewer may only see His feet. Christ has ascended by His own power. He does not need the assistance of angels or clouds.
In the first and second patterns, Christ has already risen. The apostle look on and the focus seems to be on Our Lord. In the third pattern, Christ is partially hidden and the emphasis is more on the apostles who are admonished by the angels to stop staring into the sky and get to work.
While it is desirable in the Gothic style that all figures are shown fully and complete, the Ascension represents one of the few exceptions. Not only is Christ partially hidden but the apostles themselves are often shown as half figures emerging from the bottom of the picture plane. This is the case with the Rheinau Psalter.
Rheinau Psalter c. 1280
In the Rheinau Psalter, the artist seems to focus even more on Mary and the apostles. Rather than the figures rendered fully in the middle ground, they are moved to the foreground and represented as half-figures. This brings them much closer to us and makes them a more immediate presence. They do not look up at the ascending Jesus but rather look at each other or at Mary. One apostle, perhaps James, seems to be looking out at the viewer.
The two admonishing angels hold banners with the first words of their message to the apostles, “sic veniet,” and “Viri Galilaei.” “Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking heavenwards? He who has been taken from you into heaven, this same Jesus, will come back in the same fashion, just as you have watched him going into heaven.” Acts 1:11
This third pattern is an evolution from the first two and emphasizes the idea that Christ ascended on His power and authority without any assistance. With The Lord now having returned to the Father and no longer visible to us, we are urged to continue His work.
The message is clear. Christ ascended into Heaven in order to not be confined to a physical location. Had He remained with us we would have constantly been looking to Him for direction. Instead He is now hidden from our sight and sends to us a Counselor who will guide us in all things. By His Ascension He is now always everywhere.
The image of the Ascension presents us with some interesting points on the Gothic style. While there are many examples that follow the cannon of showing figures fully, in the middle ground, there are many that do not.
I am occasionally asked by artists how to learn the Gothic style. As we have suggested, the best way is to copy from the originals. But we do not merely want to replicate the past. We want to copy with an understanding of why the original artist has done what he has done. In a sense, we want to learn and understand the rules, the cannons if you will, before we can know when, how, and why, it is appropriate to break them.
In the case of the Rheinau Psalter, as with others, what better way to shift the focus from the ascending Lord to the apostles left to continue His work, than to move them closer to the viewer. They are not merely spectators to an event. They stand with us and make their mission our own.
Below is my own interpretation of the Rheinau Ascension. The way figures are presented in the Gothic style serves to further inform us. Generally the more important figures are shown larger while the figures of lesser importance are smaller in scale. Here all of the figures are rendered approximately the same size. The “admonishing angels” however are oddly proportioned. The human figure is generally between 7 ½ to 8 ½ heads tall. The angels in the original are 6 heads tall which makes them somewhat stunted in appearance. I chose to make them more inline with traditionally proportioned figure to give them a more elegant appearance. I also simplified the border in order to give me more room to work. Rather than paint the landscape as shown in the original, I drew from the iconographic style as a nod to the earlier tradition.
Pax vobiscum
The Ascension © Lawrence klimecki
Lawrence Klimecki, MSA, is a deacon in the Diocese of Sacramento. He is a public speaker, writer, and artist, reflecting on the intersection of art and faith and the spiritual “hero’s journey” that is part of every person’s life. He maintains a blog at www.DeaconLawrence.org and can be reached at Lawrence@deaconlawrence.com
Lawrence draws on ancient Christian tradition to create new contemporary visions of sacred art. For more information on original art, prints and commissions, Please visit www.DeaconLawrence.org
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