The Assumption of the Virgin with Busts of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin of the Annunciation

It was 1950 before the Catholic Church accepted the Virgin Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven as official dogma, but the notion had long been part of her legend and a subject for artists. One of the earliest large-scale depictions of this event in Italy was a rose window in the cathedral of Siena, designed by Duccio di Buoninsegna (Sienese, c. 1250/1255 - 1318/1319) around 1288. No doubt Paolo di Giovanni Fei (Sienese, c. 1335/1345 - 1411) would have seen Duccio’s work many times. Paolo’s panel, on the other hand, was used for private devotion. The representation of the Annunciation with images of Mary and the archangel Gabriel in small roundels suggests that it stood on its own, without flanking panels.

Paolo’s Virgin is serene, enthroned on a cloud and looking similar to the young Mary that Paolo painted in _The Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple_. The artist’s real interest, though, seems to be in the reactions of the apostles, communicated especially through their gestures. At the end of Mary’s time on earth, clouds transported all the apostles from the places where they taught to her bedside. When she died, Jesus appeared to escort her soul to heaven and returned three days later for her body. Here, 11 apostles crowd around Mary’s sarcophagus. Each expresses his wonderment at the miraculous appearance of flowers where a body should have been. In the center of the group, one jostles in to get a closer look. Apart from the others is Thomas, kneeling on the Mount of Olives. Questioning these events, he prayed to Mary for a further sign, and she handed down the girdle (belt) from her robe. His body, arms flung wide and head thrown back dramatically, conveys the measure of his awe.