Loading
Altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin
Lucio Fontana1955
Museo Diocesano Milano
Milano, Italy
Details
- Title: Altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin
- Creator Lifespan: 1899 - 1968
- Creator Nationality: Italian
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: Comabbio, Varese
- Creator Birth Place: Rosario di Santa Fé, Argentina
- Date: 1955
- Provenance: Milan, Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo
- Physical Dimensions: w180 x h235 x d50 cm
- Painter, sculptor: Lucio Fontana
- Description: This is the maquette for the Assumption executed by Fontana in 1955 on the occasion of a competition held in 1950 by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo for the realization of an altarpiece destined for a side aisle of the Milanese cathedral. Designed in marble, the altar-piece never saw the light. This work depicts a monumental Assumption, with a smaller Pietà at its feet. The Virgin of the Assumption dominates the space with a powerful frontality, her gaze, which points downward, actively involving the viewer in the space of the work. The monumental size, the high degree of dynamism and the particular motion of the sculpted material, make the Assumption directly attributable to Fontana’s “baroque” period. The work is composed of three distinct plaster sheets assembled for the first time into one frame after the restoration of 1999. It can be hypothesized that the distribution of the two themes on different sheets (the Assumption occupies the upper two sections while the Pietà is in the lower one) favored the reading of the two subjects as independent of one another, as if they were two distinct works.
- Type: sculpture
- Rights: © Archivio fotografico Museo Diocesano, Milano
- Medium: plaster
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
