Possessed of great delicacy, this little painting also compels attention through its complexity. In the lower scene, enclosed by a wall, the body of the Virgin lies on a bier draped with sumptuous gold textiles. She is surrounded by Christ’s disciples, who miraculously appeared as she lay dying. Four of them prepare to lift the body and carry it to the tomb. In the center of the composition, Christ too has appeared to accept the Virgin’s soul, represented by the infant he holds in his arms.

The Assumption of the Virgin is seen above. Three days after her burial, she ascended into heaven. Fra Angelico depicts the Virgin rising upwards, surrounded by a chorus of music angels. At the top, Christ, garbed in intense blue robes, opens his arms to embrace his mother.

Fra Angelico was highly prized in the nineteenth century for his blues, which here range from delicate pale tints to saturated ultramarine. Equally remarkable is the handling of the gold surface, which has been punched, decorated, and in some areas coated with glaze. The idealized mysticism of the painting is balanced by naturalistic, observed details such as the faces and poses of the disciples.

This small image was probably originally surrounded by an ornate carved frame embedded with star-shaped chambers holding relics. It was one of four reliquary paintings devoted to the Virgin that were placed on the high altar of the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence on special celebrations. They were commissioned by the church’s sacristan, Giovanni Masi. The other three painted reliquaries (which preserve their original frames) are in the Museo di San Marco, Florence.

Source: Alan Chong, "The Death and Assumption of the Virgin," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 45.

Purchased in 1899 from Colnaghi, London, through Berenson.