The Assumption of the Virgin
Peter Paul Rubens·probably mid 1620s
Historical Context
The Assumption of the Virgin from the studio of Rubens (probably mid-1620s) depicts one of the subjects that Rubens treated with the most consistently spectacular compositional invention. His 1626 altarpiece of the Assumption for Antwerp Cathedral — the great Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal where his Elevation and Descent from the Cross already hung — transformed the subject into a vortex of ascending female beauty and cloud-borne glory that became the most influential Assumption composition of the century. The studio production of variants responded to the demand that such images generated: the Counter-Reformation Church promoted the bodily Assumption as a specifically Catholic doctrine, rejected by Protestants as extra-scriptural, and images of the Virgin's heavenly glorification served as visual assertions of Catholic theology wherever they hung. The NGA's studio version demonstrates the quality control that Rubens maintained over his workshop's production; even when he did not paint every passage himself, the compositional architecture and chromatic key remained his, ensuring that studio works transmitted his essential pictorial achievements to a broad market.
Technical Analysis
The oil-on-panel demonstrates the Rubens workshop's mastery of dynamic, upward-spiraling composition with warm, luminous colors. The dramatic foreshortening and energetic brushwork capture the heavenly movement that characterizes Rubens' approach to the Assumption theme.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the dynamic upward-spiraling composition as the Virgin rises through swirling clouds toward heaven.
- ◆Look at the dramatic foreshortening of the figures — a technical challenge Rubens and his workshop mastered for this subject.
- ◆Observe the warm, luminous color palette that creates an atmosphere of heavenly radiance and movement.
- ◆The energetic brushwork conveys the miraculous ascent with physical conviction, making the theological claim visible.
- ◆Find the attendant angels who support and accompany the Virgin, each rendered with individual gesture and expression.
Provenance
R.P. [possibly Robert P.] Nichols, London, by 1857.[1] Misses Weiss, Langton Castle, Worcestershire, by 1950.[2] (Frederick Mont, Inc., New York); sold January 1952 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1961 to NGA. [1] Gustav-Friedrich Waagen, _Galleries and cabinets of Art in Great Britain: Being an Account of more than Forty Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Mss., &c.&c_, forming a supplemental volume to the Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 3 vols., London, 1857: 240. [2] _A Loan Exhibition of Works by Peter Paul Rubens, Kt._, notes by Ludwig Burchard, exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., London, 1950: 2. [3] The bill of sale from Frederick Mont to the Kress Foundation is dated 30 January 1952 (copy in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2075). The painting is described as being a modello for the altarpiece in the Cathedral of Antwerp, from the collection of Langton Castle, Worcestershire, England.
