The Ascension

Title: The Ascension
Artist: John Singleton Copley
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 81 x 73 cm
Date: 1775
Location: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Luke 24:50-56 - When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

As we come to the end of Luke’s Gospel, it is important to recall that Luke is only half finished with his story. The sequel comes in Acts. The resurrection-ascension is the link between the two volumes. That Luke regards the ascension as crucial is clear from Peter's speech in Acts 2. Now that Jesus is raised and seated at God's right hand, the mediating Ruler at the Father's side can pour out the blessing of God's Spirit.

John Singleton Copley (1738 – 1815) was an American painter, a son of Irish immigrants. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects. Though he had a long and successful career, the Napoleonic Wars brought hard times, and maintaining his household and the education of a talented son were costly. By the time of his death, despite his fame and talent, he left his family to settle his debts.

Ascension

Title: Ascension

Artist: Salvador Dali

Medium: Oil on canvas

Size: 115 x 123 cm

Date: 1958

Location: Private collection.

Mark 16:19-20 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Both Jewish and gentile readers could relate to the idea of an ascension of a great hero, but for Jesus to sit at God’s right hand goes beyond this idea – it means that Jesus reigns as God’s agent. Reference to this singular honor is found in Psalms 110:1, and its significance attested to again in the Letter to the Hebrews 1:13, when its author writes “To which of the angels did God ever say, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?”

Dali said that his inspiration for the theatrical ‘Ascension’ came from a "cosmic dream" that he had in 1950, some eight years before the painting was completed. In the dream, which was in vivid color, he saw the nucleus of an atom, which we see in the background of the painting. In this painting the focus is on the bottoms of the supine figure's feet, an homage to Mantegna's landmark ‘Dead Christ’,' an early and daring example of perspective. Vanishing-point perspective was the forerunner of Dali's own optical illusions.

Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) was a Spanish Catalan surrealist painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and designer. He was born in the small town of Figueres, Spain. Dali was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. Dali's name is synonymous with the Surrealist art movement. A prolific artist, Dali created more than 1500 paintings during his life time, as well many works in other media including prints, drawings, sculpture, book illustration, and theater set designs.

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“The grace of God be with you all! Amen.” Heb 13:25

The Ascension

Title: The Ascension

Artist: Unknown

Medium: Encaustic Icon

Size: 46 x 29.5 cm

Date: 6th century

Location: Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai.

As recorded in the Acts of the Apostles 1:8-9, the last time they gathered with the risen Christ he told them “[...] you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And after saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him." On this occasion we can see the completion of Christ’s physical presence among his apostles and the consummation of the union of God and humanity as Christ ascends in his glorified human body to sit at the right hand of the Father. The Ascension is the final visible sign of Christ’s two natures, divine and human, and it shows us that redeemed humanity now has a higher state than humanity had before the fall.

The panel is split vertically and stapled together. Mary stands in the center in an orant position, signifying the Church, surrounded by the apostles including St. Paul, while Christ rises in a mandorla flanked by angels. She alone makes eye contact with us, the Church. The depiction here is clearly not historical, but highly symbolic of the nature of the Church Christ established and left, and His promise to send the Spirit and never to abandon His Church.

The iconography already seems well established by this period, as it recalls the Monza ampullae from Palestine. This icon is an encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, involving the use of heated beeswax to which colored pigments are added. The liquid/paste is then applied to a surface, in this case prepared wood. This icon, along with many others, is still located at Saint Catherine's Monastery at the mouth of an inaccessible gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai. The monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.