- Museum number
- 1946,0209.34
- Description
-
The Assumption of the Virgin with St Francis and St Philip Neri kneeling in adoration
Pen and brown ink, with brown wash, heightened with white (oxidised), over graphite
- Production date
- 1678-1716
- Dimensions
-
Height: 247 millimetres
-
Width: 175 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Lit.: N. Turner, 'Italian Drawings in the BM, Roman Baroque Drawings', London, 1999, I, no. 264
Turner 1999
Several drawings survive for this composition, showing the Virgin being carried to heaven by angels, with two or three saints kneeling around the empty tomb. Especially close in design are a study at Windsor Castle (inv. no. 5664; Blunt and Cooke, 1960, no. 687), which reverses the position of the two saints, as well as two drawings, one each belonging to Bowdoin College of Art (inv.no. 1811.26; Becker, 1895, no. 74) and the Art Institute of Chicago (inv.no. 1922.5476). The Bowdoin College drawing includes a third figure in the foreground on the left shown holding the Virgin's shroud, in all likelihood St John the Evangelist.
Also related to the same composition are a double-sided sheet in the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk (inv. no. 50.49.62; Norfolk, 1979, no. 26) and two further studies at Windsor Castle (inv. nos 5663 and 5660; Blunt and Cooke, 1960, nos 686 and 687a).
Graf (1993, p.441) has connected these drawings to a lost painting described by Pascoli as "Uno [quadro] rappresentante l'Assunzion di Maria, S. Filippo Neri e S.Giovanni, ne fece per Antonio Solidati" (1730-36, I, p. 225). A variant composition occurs in de' Pietri's etching of the 'Assumption of the Virgin' (Bartsch, 1803-21, xxi, p. 292, no. 1), in which the twelve apostles are gathered around the tomb.
Literature: Blunt and Cooke, 1960, p. 88, under nos 686-73; Becker, 1985, p. 159, under no.74; Graf, 1993, pp.441 and 446, n. 7.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1946
- Acquisition notes
- This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1946,0209.34