Ascension of Christ or Ascension of Mary?: Reconsidering a Popular Early Iconography
This essay argues that an early Christian iconography that art historians today typically identify as the Ascension of Christ was instead originally understood as a scene from the Six Books Dormition narrative about the ascension of Mary. This art depicts Jesus inside a sphere in the sky above his...
| Published in: | Journal of early Christian studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
[2015]
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Ascension
/ Jesus Christ
/ Assumption
/ Marian image
/ Church
/ History 30-600
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| IxTheo Classification: | CE Christian art KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This essay argues that an early Christian iconography that art historians today typically identify as the Ascension of Christ was instead originally understood as a scene from the Six Books Dormition narrative about the ascension of Mary. This art depicts Jesus inside a sphere in the sky above his arms-raised mother, who is herself usually flanked by twelve apostles, including Paul. Subsequent changes to both the Dormition text and the iconography resulted in the loss of this scene from Christian memory, but two ascension scenes carved on the early fifth-century doors of S. Sabina Basilica in Rome support the argument. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.2015.0022 |