Assumption of the Virgin

Moretto da Brescia's Assumption of the Virgin is one of his major altarpiece compositions, the ascending Madonna depicted in the tradition established by Titian's great Assumption at the Frari in Venice. Titian's monumental 1518 altarpiece had redefined the Assumption as a dynamic, dramatically upward-surging composition, and subsequent painters throughout northern Italy had to engage with that model. Moretto's version maintains his characteristic naturalistic gravity — even the miraculous event of bodily assumption retains physical weight and emotional directness — while the surrounding apostles respond with the authentic variety of pose and expression he brought to all his multi-figure compositions.

Moretto's silvery palette distinguishes this from Venetian prototypes, with delicate gradations of gray, blue, and white creating an ethereal atmosphere around the ascending Virgin.