Assumpta est Maria in caelum

I offer this post as a gift to Our Blessed Mother, to celebrate her feast day by sharing images of a painting I discovered for the first time in August 2020: The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin by Fra Angelico. I have added a few notes.

The images below are reproduced with thanks to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. 

Here is the first image showing the painting in its entirety.

    The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin by Fra Angelico. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Dimension Notes

Tempera with oil glazes and gold on panel, 61.8 x 38.3 cm (24 5/16 x 15 1/16 in.).

Provenance

Possibly commissioned for the church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence by its sacristan Fra Giovanni di Zanobi Masi as one of four reliquaries around 1430. Remained at the church until at least 1754.

Collection of Rev. John Sanford (d.1855), Nynehead, Somerset by 1816. Exhibited at the British Institution, London in the same year.

Bequeathed by Rev. John Sanford to Frederick Henry Paul Methuen (d.1891), 2nd Baron Methuen, Corsham Court in 1855.

By descent to Paul Sanford Methuen (d.1932), 3rd Baron Methuen, Corsham Court around 1891.

Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the art dealers Colnaghi & Co., London on 23 February 1899 for £4,000 through Bernard Berenson (1865–1959), American art historian.

Notes on the lower register

In the lower register, Our Lady's body lies on a stretcher covered in golden drape; her head rests upon a small pillow and the whole is supported by a low bed or mattress, also covered in golden material. Framed by a halo, her head is slightly raised. Her eyes are closed and we are given a glimpse of her right hand clasping her left. Her skin is pale but her lips show a natural colour. She wears a blue cloak and hood, edged with gold.

Her bier is surrounded by four lighted candles of unbleached wax, traditionally used for a Requiem Mass. 

Fifteen bare-footed figures surround Our Blessed Lady. Is it fanciful to catch an echo of the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary?

In the centre stands Our Lord, gazing down at His mother. He holds in His arms a small figure whose hands are joined in prayer. This is said to represent Our Lady. His tunic is unique amongst those of the other figures - does it suggest Christ as the High Priest? The symbols appear to include the Greek letters Alpha and Omega.

Peter, James and John. Fra Angelico. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The cross in the Redeemer's halo finds an echo in the pallium worn by the man on the left of the painting. The modern pallium is a circular band about two inches wide, worn about the neck, breast, and shoulders, and having two pendants, one hanging down in front and one behind. The use of the pallium is reserved to the pope and archbishops, but the latter may not use it until on petition they have received the permission of the Holy See. Bishops sometimes receive the pallium as a mark of special favour, but it does not increase their powers or jurisdiction nor give them precedence. The pope may use the pallium at any time. [Catholic Encyclopedia]. This is evidently Peter, the first Pope, who is reading or singing from a small volume. Perhaps it is a Psalter, or perhaps he is chanting the In Paradisum...

To Peter's left is a figure holding a bucket (aspersorium) and a sprinkler (aspergillum), still used in today's Requiem Mass.

The palm frond.  Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

On the extreme right of the picture, a man is holding what may be a palm frond. Brian G. Svoboda identifies him as St John the Evangelist: see the Catholic Thing. St John, however, is traditionally portrayed as a clean-shaven young man and I suspect that he is the one with hands clasped in prayer next to St Peter. This would suggest that the man with the aspergillum may be St James, as Peter, James and John are frequently grouped together in the New Testament.

Notes on the middle register

In the middle register, Our Blessed Lady is rising Heavenwards, drawn aloft by the power of her Divine son. her cheeks and her complexion are no longer pale. Her eyes are now open and she is looking upwards. Her hands are raised in what the Abbé Fouard observes is the traditional Oriental manner of praying: in adoration, praise and thanksgiving. 

Her sky blue tunic and robe, edged with gold, with diaphonous and translucent scrolls, dazzle the eye. The golden motifs on her garments suggest tiny winged angels bearing her to Heaven; or perhaps a shower of gifts from the Holy Ghost, in the form of tongues, as it were, of fire. They are echoed in the robes of the Angels around her.

The Angels are portrayed in three groups. The lowest group are four in number and are kneeling before the Queen of Angels. The one on the left seems to be shielding his gaze from the dazzling brightness.

The Angels in the middle group are holding hands as though executing a celestial dance; their movement shows in the flowing pleats of their garments. Music is provided by the uppermost group, an angelic sextet, featuring two trumpets, a tambourine, a psaltery, a fiddle and a lute.

Notes on the upper register

The upper register features Christ in Heaven gazing down towards His mother as she is assumed by His Divine power into His Royal Court. The triangular cutaway in the frame suggests the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 

Assumpta est Maria in caelum: gaudent angeli, laudantes benedicunt Dominum.

Mary was taken up into Heaven, the angels rejoice, and with praises bless the Lord. 

[Antiphon from Lauds, the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary]

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam