"Resurrection of Christ and Descent into Limbo"
Rocca di Vignola, Contrari Chapel

Vignola Stronghold, Contrari Chapel, north wall: “Resurrection of Christ and Descent to the Limb”. This wall is characterized by a particular representation of the Resurrection which introduces another theme of Gioacchino da Fiore's thought, that of reconciliation between Christians and Jews and the conversion of the latter before the advent of the age of the Holy Spirit. The evangelist associated with the episode is Mark, identified by the phrase Recumbentibus undecim (He appeared] to the eleven while they were at the table). The symbol of Christ with the Crusader banner is that of the Resurrection. In addition to Mary and the twelve apostles who witness Jesus' ascent into heaven, three men appear, dressed as priests, on the right. The reference, in this case, is to the Gospel of Nicodemus, an apocryphal one in which it is said that the day following the resurrection of Christ, three men, Adas, Phinee and Haggai (respectively a scribe, a priest and a Levite), went to the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Jewish justice, to testify to the vision of the risen Christ: their story would therefore have prompted the Jewish people to set out in search of Jesus. In the centre we see the Good thief Disma, at the bottom right Jesus takes Adam by the hand. At the feet of Christ, the broken gates of Hell and the figure of the Devil on the ground. On the left the snake shedding its skin is a positive symbol of regeneration.