Assumption of the Virgin

Rosso Fiorentino painted this Assumption of the Virgin around 1517 for the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. This early masterpiece already shows Rosso's radical departure from High Renaissance harmony, with its deliberately jarring color combinations and emotionally charged figure types that would define the emerging Mannerist movement. The tempera medium required careful preparation on a gessoed panel and a disciplined layering technique that produced precise, durable surfaces suited to the intricate detail expected of devotional painting.

The altarpiece demonstrates Rosso's revolutionary approach with acid color contrasts, angular figure drawing, and an emotional intensity that deliberately ruptures the classical balance of the High Renaissance in favor of a more subjective, expressive vision.