Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
The Assumption of the Virgin
c. 1613/20
acquired for the Imperial Picture Gallery in Vienna in 1776
© Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The genesis of this painting is complex and includes several alterations of the composition. Though initially intended for the main altar of the cathedral at Antwerp, the painting was eventually placed in the chapel dedicated to the Virgin in the city's Jesuit church between 1621 until 1776. Following the description in Jacobus de Voraigne's "Legenda Aurea", the Assumption takes place at Josaphat, the valley of tombs. The Virgin, bathed in heavenly light, is borne up to Heaven by countless small angels. With their heavy, earthy colours the men and women struck speechless by the apparition and the empty tomb remain firmly rooted in this world. In contrast to the fluent dynamics so typical of his later versions, Rubens' first Assumption is still somewhat static and additive in character.