The Ascension of the Elect

The Ascension of the Elect
Dutch: Aards paradijs en opgang van de glukzaligen naae het hemels, French: L'Ascension des élus
ArtistDieric Bouts
Yearc. 1470
Catalogue16
Mediumoil on panel
MovementEarly Netherlandish, Primitifs flamands
Dimensions115 cm × 69,5 cm (45 in × 274 in)
LocationPalais des Beaux-Arts, Lille
Accession747
Websitehttps://pba.lille.fr/Collections/Chefs-d-OEuvre/Moyen-Age-et-Renaissance/L-Ascension-des-elus-dit-aussi-Le-Paradis/(plus)

The Ascension of the Elect is a c. 1470 oil on panel painting by the Early Netherlandish painter Dieric Bouts, originally produced as part of a triptych of the Last Judgment commissioned by the town of Louvain in 1468. The central panel is lost but the other side panel, The Fall of the Damned, survives. Concerning the Elect in the end times, the painting draws on Genesis 2:10, Book of Revelation and The Purgatory of St Patrick, a 14th-century Irish manuscript by Berol telling of Sir Owein's legendary trip to Purgatory. Ascension is now in the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille.