A woman, Mary, sitting on a throne made of clouds is surrounded by ten winged angels, floating above a landscape with twelve people gathered closely around a long, rectangular, stone box filled with flowers, all set against a gold background in this tall, vertical painting. Mary and the angels have pale, peachy skin and the men below have more tan complexions. Each person’s head is surrounded by a flat, gold halo. In the upper half of the composition, Mary’s blond hair is covered by a veil, and her white robe is decorated with a pattern of starburst-like, gold shapes and edged in gold. She holds her hands together in prayer and looks up. She sits on a light blue, cloud-like form, which is held up by two angels. The other eight angels look on, four to each side. Six of them each play a different musical instrument, and the top two cross hands across their chests. The angels all have blond hair and wear flowing robes in cranberry red, steel gray, cream white, or pale sky blue. In the bottom half of the painting, the people kneeling or bending over the coffin-sized, stone box wear gold-trimmed robes in azure blue, lilac purple, raspberry pink, marigold orange, sage green, or coral red. All but one is bearded, though the face of one, opposite us, is half-hidden behind the outstretched arm of his neighbor. One man, to our left, points into the box, which is filled with white and red flowers and pine-green leaves, and others look into the box, up, or at each other. The box is inlaid with teal-green panels on the side we can see. Grass and flowers grow below. Beyond the box and people, and between them and Mary above, a person kneels on an olive-green, rocky outcropping with hands raised. The angels around Mary line the inner edge of an arch at the top of the panel. The roundels at the top corners above the arch are occupied by a person wearing a mauve-pink robe over a gold garment to our left and a blue robe over a white and gold garment to our left. The entire panel is surrounded by a gold frame carved with steps and moldings.

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

Paolo di Giovanni Fei

A woman, Mary, sitting on a throne made of clouds is surrounded by ten winged angels, floating above a landscape with twelve people gathered closely around a long, rectangular, stone box filled with flowers, all set against a gold background in this tall, vertical painting. Mary and the angels have pale, peachy skin and the men below have more tan complexions. Each person’s head is surrounded by a flat, gold halo. In the upper half of the composition, Mary’s blond hair is covered by a veil, and her white robe is decorated with a pattern of starburst-like, gold shapes and edged in gold. She holds her hands together in prayer and looks up. She sits on a light blue, cloud-like form, which is held up by two angels. The other eight angels look on, four to each side. Six of them each play a different musical instrument, and the top two cross hands across their chests. The angels all have blond hair and wear flowing robes in cranberry red, steel gray, cream white, or pale sky blue. In the bottom half of the painting, the people kneeling or bending over the coffin-sized, stone box wear gold-trimmed robes in azure blue, lilac purple, raspberry pink, marigold orange, sage green, or coral red. All but one is bearded, though the face of one, opposite us, is half-hidden behind the outstretched arm of his neighbor. One man, to our left, points into the box, which is filled with white and red flowers and pine-green leaves, and others look into the box, up, or at each other. The box is inlaid with teal-green panels on the side we can see. Grass and flowers grow below. Beyond the box and people, and between them and Mary above, a person kneels on an olive-green, rocky outcropping with hands raised. The angels around Mary line the inner edge of an arch at the top of the panel. The roundels at the top corners above the arch are occupied by a person wearing a mauve-pink robe over a gold garment to our left and a blue robe over a white and gold garment to our left. The entire panel is surrounded by a gold frame carved with steps and moldings.

Colors in this work

Details
Artist
Paolo di Giovanni Fei
Date
c. 1400/1405
Medium
tempera on panel
Dimensions
painted surface: 66.5 × 38.1 cm (26 3/16 × 15 in.) overall: 79.8 × 51 cm (31 7/16 × 20 1/16 in.)
Department
CIS-R
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Palette

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Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Samuel H. Kress Collection

Art Genome Taxonomy

8 tags

Subject Matter

  • Deities and Holy Figures Both · 99%

    The title identifies the Assumption of the Virgin, and the image visibly presents Mary, angels, halos, and other sacred figures.

  • Implied Narrative Both · 99%

    The title names a specific sacred event, while the image presents a sequential, figure-filled devotional scene centered on Mary above the tomb.

Visual Qualities

  • Symmetrical Visual · 93%

    Mary establishes a strong central vertical axis, with the angels and lower figures arranged in broadly balanced formations on either side.

  • Highly Ornamented Visual · 98%

    The gold ground, patterned robes, ornamented halos, decorative arch, and stepped frame produce a highly embellished surface.

  • Dense Composition Visual · 97%

    The panel densely combines ten angels, musical instruments, a central figure, a rocky outcrop, twelve lower figures, the tomb, vegetation, halos, and elaborate architectural framing.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Metadata · 99%

    The museum classifies the work as a painting and records its medium as tempera on panel.

  • Tempera Metadata · 99%

    The supplied museum metadata explicitly identifies the medium as tempera on panel.

Time Periods

  • 15th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The work is dated c. 1400/1405, placing it in the fifteenth century.

Source & rights

Paolo di Giovanni Fei. The Assumption of the Virgin with Busts of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin of the Annunciation. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

High-resolution sources

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

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