Nave vault

The ten compartments of the nave vault contain a rich pictorial program. It is centred on the Ascension of Christ which is distributed across three panels treated as glimpses into heaven: a choir of angels, the ascending Christ, and God the Father. The continuous blue background suggests a unified space extending above massive, three-dimensional framing of the ribs. The three-part centre sequence is framed by seven vault caps in which numerous Old Testament can be seen in loose groupings, some lounging on clouds, some seated on the painted frames or cut off by them. The most prominent of these is a youth reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Jonah from the Sistine Ceiling. He represents Abel (at the bottom of the present photo), who as the first murdered human was also the first to glimpse the glory of Paradise.