The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Death of the Virgin

Death of the Virgin

mid-1500s
oil on wood
Framed: 78.8 x 130.9 cm (31 x 51 9/16 in.); Unframed: 25 x 103.5 cm (9 13/16 x 40 3/4 in.)
Holden Collection 1916.797
Location: not on view

Description

This panel reveals a long history of changes. The initial work was painted on a single slab of wood, with strips left unpainted along the top and bottom. At an unknown time, the panel was probably cut down on the right and left sides, and the two blank strips at the top and bottom were filled in to enlarge the picture, most likely to fit its current, elaborately carved, 18th-century frame. Although these additions must have been initially more convincing, they were painted to match the yellowed and darkened original image, and thus no longer match the original paint. The flat and mismatched handling of the draperies in the lower portion also signal the intervention of a subsequent hand. The painting may have been part of an altarpiece as the predella, a long, horizontal painting along the base. The bottom of this panel exhibits signs of damage from fire and smoke, perhaps from the candles that could have been placed in front of it.
  • Gino Capponi Gallery, Florence;
    James Jackson Jarves, 1883;
    Mrs. Liberty E. Holden, Cleveland, 1884, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
    .
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 470; Mentioned: p. 470
    Rubinstein-Bloch, Stella. Catalogue of a Collection of Paintings, Etc. Presented by Mrs. Liberty E. Holden to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1917. Mentioned: p. 27, cat. no. 25 archive.org
  • Boston, 1883: American Exhibition of Foreign Products, Arts, and Manufctures: Art Department, "Jarves Collection," cat. no. 430.
    The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
    CMA, 1936: "The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of CMA," cat. no. 95.
    Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916).
    New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1912: "Loan Exhibition of the Holden Collection," catalogue: Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, . VII, no. 10 (October 1912), cat. no. 16.
  • {{cite web|title=Death of the Virgin|url=false|author=|year=mid-1500s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.797