The bas-relief is one of two lunettes placed over opposite doors in the cathedral of Florence. The companion subject is the Resurrection, and in both pieces the sculptor went beyond his usual limit in the number of figures making up the composition. The leading quality of his work is decorative, and he seldom applied his art to the illustration of story. We are the more interested in his remarkable success in these instances.
A painter would naturally have brought out the more dramatic features of the Ascension, showing the excitement and confusion of the moment. Luca knew well that sculpture was unsuited for violent action, and he sought rather to convey a sense of repose in his work. Moreover he infused a devotional spirit into the scene which he seldom attained. Marcel-Reymond says that only in Fra Angelico's work can one find figures expressing such an ecstasy of love and devotion.
[45] Acts, chapter i., verse 3.
[46] St. Mark, chapter xvi., verse 14; St. John, chapter xx., verse 26.
[47] St. John, chapter xxi., verse 4.
[48] St. Matthew, chapter xxviii., verses 19, 20.
[49] St. Luke, chapter xxiv., verses 50, 51; Acts, chapter i., verses 9-11.
[50] St. John, chapter xx., verse 17.