The Ascension with Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter explained

Image Upright:2
Artist:Donatello
Material:Marble
Height Metric:40.9
Width Metric:114.1
Museum:Victoria and Albert Museum
City:London
Accession:7629-1861

The Ascension with Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter is a rectangular stiacciato (schiacciato) marble relief sculpture of by Donatello, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[1]

Its original commissioner is unknown; it is first recorded in the inventory of the Palazzo Medici in 1492 on the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and later in the inventory of the in 1591.

It is an unusual subject, combining the Ascension of Christ and Christ's giving the keys of the kingdom to Saint Peter. It may form part of a series of works for private devotion which the artist produced at that time, but more probably it decorated the original altar in the Cappella Brancacci, or perhaps the base of the Saint Peter niche at Orsanmichele.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Ascension with Christ giving the Keys to St Peter. Victoria and Albert Museum. 21 August 2021.
  2. Rolf C. Wirtz, Donatello, Könemann, Cologne 1998.