Assumption of the Virgin
Francesco Botticini·1475
Historical Context
Francesco Botticini's Assumption of the Virgin, painted around 1475 and now in the National Gallery, London, shows the Virgin ascending through the celestial hierarchy with all nine orders of angels arrayed in concentric circles above a remarkably detailed Florentine landscape. The panoramic view of the Arno valley below is one of the most accurate topographic landscapes in 15th-century Italian painting. The patron was Matteo Palmieri, whose heretical beliefs about angels may be encoded in the unusual iconography.
Technical Analysis
Botticini creates an extraordinary spatial arrangement spanning from earthly landscape to celestial heaven, with the concentric rings of angels painted with miniaturist precision and the panoramic valley rendered with topographic accuracy.
