The Assumption of the Virgin

Matteo di Giovanni (ca. 1430-1495)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1474

Height:

331.5 cm  (130 1/2 in.)

Width:

174.0 cm  (68 1/2 in.)

Technique / Medium:

tempera and gold on wood

Place of creation:

Asciano (Italia)

Description

This work is the center of a polyptych painted for the Church of Sant'Agostino in Asciano, a township in the province of Sienna, Italy. Some of the side panels of the altarpiece reside in Asciano and depict St. Michael and St. Augustine. This panel represents the Annunciation and features Mary rising to heaven, surrounded by musician angels, prophets, and saints.

People as subjects

St. Mary (Blessed Virgin)
St. Thomas the Apostle (active 1st century)
David, King of Israel
St. John the Baptist

Iconclass

73E77
the assumption of Mary ('assumptio corporis'): she is borne into heaven by angels

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Nakers [2893]
Lute [3394] (Two lutes, one partially obscured.)
Tambourine [2746]
Psaltery [3677] (Partially obscured.)
Portative organ [2267]
Fiddle [3142]
Harp [3285]
Cymbals [2451]
Rebec [3202]
Double flute [3930]
Shawm [4258] (Two shawms, one partially obscured.)
Slide trumpet [4443]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Syson, Luke, Dóra Sallay, Rachel Billinge and Caroline Campbell. The reconstruction of Matteo di Giovanni’s Asciano altarpiece (London: The National Gallery, 2013) http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/upload/pdf/syson-billinge-campbell-sallay_matteo-di-giovannis-lost-altarpiece-for-sant-agostino-asciano_August_2013.pdf

Christiansen, Keith, Laurence B. Kanter, Carl Brandon Strehlke. Painting in Renaissance Siena, 1420-1500 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988). ISBN 9780870995293.

RIdIM record id

3364