''The Ascension with Christ giving the Keys to Saint Peter'' is a rectangular

stiacciato Stiacciato is a technique that allows a sculptor to create a recessed or relief sculpture with carving only millimetres deep and with mere scribing. To give the illusion of greater depth, the thickness of the carving gradually decreases from the f ...

marble relief sculpture of by Donatello, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Its original commissioner is unknown; it is first recorded in the inventory of the

Palazzo Medici The Palazzo Medici, also called the Palazzo Medici Riccardi after the later family that acquired and expanded it, is a Renaissance palace located in Florence, Italy. It is the seat of the Metropolitan City of Florence and a museum. Overview T ...

in 1492 on the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and later in the inventory of the in 1591. It is an unusual subject, combining the Ascension of Christ and Christ's giving the keys of the kingdom 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 The Brancacci Chapel (in Italian, "Cappella dei Brancacci") is a chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, central Italy. It is sometimes called the "Sistine Chapel of the early Renaissance" for its painting cycle, among the ...

, or perhaps the base of the Saint Peter niche at Orsanmichele. Rolf C. Wirtz, ''Donatello'', Könemann, Cologne 1998.

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* Marble sculptures 1430s sculptures Sculptures by Donatello Cultural depictions of Saint Peter Sculptures of the Victoria and Albert Museum {{Italy-sculpture-stub