The Virgin of the Assumption with St Thomas Receiving the Girdle

Bartolomeo Bulgarini's Virgin of the Assumption with Saint Thomas Receiving the Girdle, dated around 1360 in the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena, depicts the moment when the doubting apostle receives the Virgin's belt as proof of her bodily ascent. This subject held particular significance in Tuscany, where the relic of the Sacred Girdle was venerated at Prato Cathedral. Bulgarini, working in post-plague Siena, maintained the refined elegance of the earlier Sienese masters while investing his figures with a new emotional gravity.

The tempera-on-panel technique employs extensive gold leaf with punched and incised decoration in the halos and background. Bulgarini's figure style shows the influence of Pietro Lorenzetti in its volumetric solidity, combined with the decorative linearism of the broader Sienese tradition.