The Assumption of the Virgin

Poussin painted this work around 1630–1632. It probably belonged to the Roman marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani, who may have commissioned it. Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven is expressed through a sharp division between the earthly lower zone and an upper group surrounded by clouds and small angels.

Mary lifts her face and opens her hands. Pink clothing distinguishes her torso from blue mantle and grey clouds. Her upward gaze continues the movement beyond the visible edge. Part of the religious event therefore extends outside the space the painting shows.

The blue mantle billows into large folds. Its outline broadens on the right and narrows towards the hands. Saturated colour holds attention within the group despite numerous small bodies and clouds. The fabric helps us perceive an upward-moving figure.

Several small angels support Mary from below. Bodies turn in different directions, hands touching cloth and neighbouring figures. Together they form a dense group without earthly support. Physical effort makes supernatural movement accessible through the familiar action of lifting a weight.

An open stone tomb stands below, with white cloth hanging over its edge almost to the ground. Its emptiness indicates where Mary has risen from. A heavy rectangle contrasts with curving clouds and freely arranged figures above.

An angel on the left scatters white flowers over the tomb. Others already lie on the ground. Small pale marks connect air, stone edge and lower boundary. They form a separate downward movement within the composition’s overall ascent.

In the eighteenth century the Earl of Exeter acquired the work through an intermediary in Rome. Probable Roman ownership and documented movement to England reveal different phases of its history. A first viewer may have prioritised devotion, while later owners also placed it among recognised works of European painting.