The Work
Doré's Ascension of Christ (from La Sainte Bible, 1866) shows the risen Jesus ascending into a luminous cloud above the Mount of Olives as the disciples watch from below with uplifted arms and expressions of awe. The ascending figure is bathed in celestial light against the deep sky, creating the visual boundary between two modes of existence. The engraving shaped Protestant visualization of the Ascension for generations.
Biblical Source
Acts 1:9-11 - "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky?'" - provides the narrative and the disciples' response. Luke 24:51 - "While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven" - provides the liturgical form of the event.
Artist and Iconography
Doré's plate emphasizes the moment of disappearance - the ascending Christ is already partially obscured by the luminous cloud, the disciples' upward gaze directed at what is already passing from sight. This temporal specificity (the moment of departure rather than the moment of ascent) creates the emotional tone of loss-that-is-gain that the Acts narrative describes: the disciples stand looking upward until the angels redirect them to their mission.