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The Death of the Virgin

1484
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 606
The Virgin is shown dead, surrounded by the apostles, and received into heaven by her son Christ. Saints Lawrence and Stephen stand to either side. The landscape is barren on the left, green on the right, contrasting death to life. Painted for the Certosa at Padua, the work had a frame decorated at the top with a carved figure of Saint Michael. From a successful family of painters in Murano, Vivarini offered Venetian clients a more conservative style than that of Giovanni Bellini—one influenced by the linearity of Andrea Mantegna.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Death of the Virgin
  • Artist: Bartolomeo Vivarini (Italian, active Venice 1450–91)
  • Date: 1484
  • Medium: Tempera on wood
  • Dimensions: Arched top, 74 3/4 x 59 in. (189.9 x 149.9 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Robert Lehman, 1950
  • Object Number: 50.229.1
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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The Madonna of Humility, the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Pietà, Bartolomeo Vivarini Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
The Madonna of Humility, the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Pietà
Bartolomeo Vivarini
ca. 1465
A Saint (Mark?) Reading, Bartolomeo Vivarini Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
A Saint (Mark?) Reading
Bartolomeo Vivarini
ca. 1470
Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius, Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) Italian, Tempera on wood
Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius
Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi)
ca. 1500
Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, Fra Filippo Lippi Italian, Tempera on wood
Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement
Fra Filippo Lippi
ca. 1440
Federico Gonzaga (1500–1540), Francesco Francia Italian, Tempera on wood, transferred from wood to canvas and then again to wood
Federico Gonzaga (1500–1540)
Francesco Francia
1510

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