Giovanni dal Ponte, 'Ascension of John the Evangelist Altarpiece', about 1420-4?
About the group
Overview
This large, gilded polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) is one of the few almost complete early Renaissance altarpieces in the National Gallery’s collection. It was made for the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, in Pratovecchio, Tuscany, probably in the 1420s.
Altarpieces on the high altar had to show the saint to whom the church was dedicated. Here, in the centre panel, we see Saint John the Evangelist being raised to heaven by Christ. A crowd of saints seems to watch from the large panels on either side.
The nuns at Pratovecchio were Camaldolites – a small, strict religious order found mainly in Italy – and the saints on the altarpiece would have been those who were important to them. This is one of the few surviving paintings of this date which might well have been commissioned by women – two abbesses – for the use of women.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Ascension of John the Evangelist Altarpiece
- Artist
- Giovanni dal Ponte
- Artist dates
- about 1385 - 1437
- Date made
- about 1420-4?
- Inventory number
- NG580
- Collection
- Main Collection
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Works in the group
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A bearded saint is being raised to heaven by Christ, who leans out of a cloud to grasp him by the wrists. This is Saint John the Evangelist, usually shown as a young man, but here old, balding and bearded.This is the centre panel of a large polyptych (a multi-panelled altarpiece) made for the hig...Not on display -
These four saints come from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) made for the high altar of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, in Pratovecchio, Tuscany.From left to right we see Saint Bernard, his book inscribed ‘S.BER’; a nun, probably Saint Scholastica, with her name scratched abo...Not on display -
These four saints come from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) made for the high altar of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, in Pratovecchio, Tuscany. Their costumes and attributes – objects they were particularly associated with, often connected with their martyrdom – tell us who...Not on display -
These three saints stand on the left side of a large multi-panelled altarpiece painted for the high altar of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Pratovecchio near Florence. Several of its panels are in the National Gallery’s collection.A label above him tells us that the saint in red is Cos...Not on display -
These three saints stand on the right side of a large multi-panelled altarpiece painted in the 1420s by the Florentine artist Giovanni dal Ponte. It originally sat on the high altar of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Pratovecchio, Tuscany. San Giovanni was a Camaldolite nunnery – a stri...Not on display -
This small roundel of the Archangel Michael comes from a large polyptych (multi-panelled altarpiece) painted by the Florentine artist Giovanni dal Ponte for the high altar of the church of Saint Giovanni Evangelista in Pratovecchio in Tuscany. In it, Saint Michael holds a sword for fighting the d...Not on display -
Christ, holding a white banner with a red cross over his shoulder, reaches out towards a crowd of figures who are squeezed into the right-hand spandrel (the space above the curved moulding of the main panel). On the opposite spandrel three devils are crushed under the fallen doors of hell, which...Not on display -
In this small, circular painting a young boy holds a fish in one hand and clasps the hand of an angel with the other. This is the story of Tobias and the angel: Tobias caught a large fish in the Tigris and was advised by the Archangel Raphael to keep its internal organs as a cure for his father’s...Not on display -
This kneeling angel holding a lily is part of an Annunciation scene – this was the moment the Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to tell her that she would conceive the Son of God. The lily is symbolic of the Virgin’s chastity.He comes from the top of the left panel of a large polyptyc...Not on display -
God the Father, seated on a cloud, holds a cross with the crucified Christ. The dove of the Holy Ghost hovers between them. Together they are known as the Trinity, the three elements which make up the Christian God. This kind of Trinity was especially suitable for an altarpiece: it emphasises Chr...Not on display -
The Virgin Mary is seated in front of a cloth of honour, her hands crossed on her chest. The Holy Ghost, represented by a white dove, seems to shoot out at her from the left hand side: he has been sent by God to impregnate her with Christ.This panel comes from the top of a large polyptych (multi...Not on display -
Two female saints stand at the ends of this predella (the part of an altarpiece below the main level), one holding pincers, the other with two snakes. These are Saint Agatha, or possibly Apollonia, and Saint Verdiana. In between them are three scenes from the life of Saint John the Evangelist.The...Not on display