The Ascension

ArtistFollower of Bernard van Orley Flemish, circa 1492–1542

Datecirca 1530

MediumOil on panel

Dimensions37 1/2 x 43 1/2 in. (95.3 x 110.5 cm)
Frame: 47 x 53 1/4 x 3 3/4 in. (119.4 x 135.3 x 9.5 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.89

On View

Not on view

Label TextAs Christ stood with the apostles on the Mount of Olives, “he was lifted up, and a cloud removed him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). His ascension marked the last appearance of Christ to the apostles, and they, along with the Virgin Mary and kneeling donors to the left, excitedly watch as all but Christ’s feet disappear into the clouds. The companion piece to this work (also in the Museum's collection), The Pentecost (descent of the Holy Ghost), describes events taking place ten days later. The apostles, having returned to Jerusalem, were together in a room when “suddenly there came from the sky a noise like that of a strong driving wind, which filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues like flames of fire, dispersed among them and resting on each one. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2: 1–4). Characteristic of the unknown master whose hand has been associated with other paintings, the crowded compositions are awkward, with large-limbed figures contorting in violent gestures.
[D. Weller, date unknown]ProvenanceKoetser GalleryPublished ReferencesW. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), cat. no. 124, illus. (b-w).

John Oliver Hand, J. Richard Judson, William W. Robison, and Martha Wolff, The Age of Bruegel: Netherlandish Drawings in the Sixteenth Century (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Arts, Cambridge University Press, 1986), 239-241.

Yvette Bruijnen, "The Master of Saint Michael: a newly established group of paintings by an artist in the orbit of Bernard van Orley," Oud Holland 115, no. 2 (2001/2002), discussed 101-104, illus. (b-w) 100 (as by Master of Saint Michael).

Alexandre Galand, The Flemish Primitives VI: The Bernard van Orley Group, Catalogue of Early Netherlandish Painting in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2013), 341, 345, illus. (color) 346, fig. 306.

“Actual State,” in North Carolina Museum of Art Preview (Winter 2016 Calendar), unpaginated.
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