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Gambara's Ascension of Christ is painted on the entry façade of the cathedral of Parma.
In the Renaissance period the decoration of the church is frequently focused on the apse and the entrance wall. These terminal walls of extended interior spaces are visible from a great distance, catching visitors' attention. The decoration of the apse towers over the events of mass at the high altar; the decoration of the inside wall of the façade serves as an admonition or reinforcement for the visitors as they leave the liturgical ceremony and the church. Large format in both places called for fundamental, weighty themes.
Examples of large-scale painted apse recesses are common in the areas ruled by Venice but also in Emilia. A large-scale fresco in the apse vault or on an entrance façade could appear to break open the surface of the wall to provide a vision of the heavens or a view of an historical event; alternatively, it could illusionistically extend the existing architecture and enliven it with holy figures.
The illusionistic remodeling, carried out by Lattanzio Gambara on the interior façade of the Romanesque cathedral in Parma, is very spectacular. A fictive triumphal arch, decorated with reliefs and statues, stands at the end of the aisle.Above it, at the height of the galleries in the nave, the wall seems to recede into the depth. An illusionistic platform results on which Christ's disciples are running about in agitation; Christ, depicted in an aureole of light, floats above an actual window that illuminates the space. The contrast with the rigid artistic world of the painted statues and reliefs makes the excited figures of the Ascension seem that much more real.
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