The Ascension with Christ giving the Keys to St Peter

The Ascension with Christ giving the Keys to St Peter is a rectangular 1430s "stiacciato" marble relief sculpture by Donatello, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[1]

Its original commissioner is unknown - it is first recorded in the inventory of the Palazzo Medici in 1492 on the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent and later in the inventory of the Palazzo Portinari-Salviati in 1591.

It is an unusual subject, combining the Ascension of Jesus and Christ giving the keys to Saint Peter. It may form part of a series of works for private devotion which the artist produced at that time, but more probably it decorated the original altar in the Cappella Brancacci or perhaps the base of the Saint Peter niche at Orsanmichele.[2]