Perhaps the most profound representation of the
first is that by Rembrandt in the Gallery at Munich,
where Christ clothed in white raiment, His arms
outstretched, soars upward, while the heavens
open to receive Him, and all around Him is light
ineffable. This wonderful picture lifts the thoughts
of the beholder away from earth, and centres them
upon the glorious victory of Christ, and the
rapturous joy of heaven, as the ascended King sits
down upon His throne. It is significant that
this conception of the Ascension does not appeal
to Mantegna, and that he is moved rather by
the sense of loss and the sorrow of separation.
And this is characteristic of Mantegna as artist.
He is attracted by the solemn and the austere, by
sorrow rather than by joy. His faces seldom
express mirth, and he rarely produced a high type
of earthly beauty ; he is moved, as all great souls
have been, by the tears of things, only here he is too
much moved. The face of Christ is over-expressive
of sadness, the tragic moment of parting has led the
artist to forget the comfortable words of Christ —
"It is expedient for you that I go away. ... I go
to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you I will come again, that where I am




Pag! 52.
Mantegna. Ascension.
