Triptych of the Last Judgment, Ascension, and Pentecost

Fra Angelico's Triptych of the Last Judgment, Ascension, and Pentecost, painted around 1447, presents three key moments in Christian eschatology within a portable altarpiece format. The triptych's combination of Judgment, Ascension, and the coming of the Holy Spirit creates a comprehensive theological program. Fra Angelico — born Guido di Pietro, known in religion as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole — was a Dominican friar whose painting practice was inseparable from his spiritual vocation. Working primarily for his own order and for Florentine civic and private patrons, he created some of the most luminous and spiritually powerful images in the history of European art.

Each panel presents its subject with characteristic clarity and luminous color, the Last Judgment's dramatic contrast between paradise and hell flanked by the serene Ascension and the fiery Pentecost in Fra Angelico's refined tempera technique.