The Ascension

Jacopo di Cione, the youngest brother of Andrea and Nardo di Cione, led one of Florence's most productive workshops in the 1370s and 1380s. This Ascension panel of around 1370, now in the National Gallery, London, likely formed part of a large altarpiece commission, possibly the San Pier Maggiore altarpiece that was the workshop's most ambitious undertaking. The subject reflects the Christological cycles central to Florentine liturgical programs of the period.

Painted in egg tempera on panel with tooled gold ground, the composition arranges Christ's ascending figure within a mandorla above the grouped apostles, employing the workshop's characteristic firm drawing and structured spatial layering.