This high-relief sculpture, once painted, was the central scene of an altarpiece, the wings of which depicted the Birth of the Virgin and the Nativity. According to the Golden Legend, the twelve apostles gathered at the Virgin’s deathbed. Saint Peter, holding a book, officiates. Next to him, an apostle sprinkles holy water. At the foot of the bed, one apostle perfumes the air with incense. Saint Thomas is missing; according to legend he arrived too late and, characteristically, doubted the Assumption of the Virgin’s body into heaven until an angel dropped Mary’s belt down to him as proof.
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Title:The Death of the Virgin (The Dormition)
Artist:Workshop of Tilman Heysacker (German, active Cologne 1487–died 1515)
Date:late 15th century
Geography:Made in Cologne, Germany
Culture:German
Medium:Oak
Dimensions:63 x 73 3/4 x 17 1/4 in. (160 x 187.3 x 43.8 cm)
Classification:Sculpture-Wood
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1973
Accession Number:1973.348
[ Ader-Picard-Tajan, Paris (November 16, 1973)] ; [ Ader-Picard-Tajan ]
Musée de Peinture, Rouen. "Exposition d'art religieux ancien," May-June 1931.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965–1975," December 6, 1975–March 23, 1976.
Lafond, Jean, Paul Vitry, and Fernand Guey. Exposition d'Art Religieux Ancien. Rouen: Imprimerie Lecerf, 1932. pp. 54–55, pl. 35.
Boccador, Jacqueline. Statuaire medievale en France de 1400 à 1530. Vol. 2. Zoug: Les Clefs du Temps, 1974. pp. 14–15, fig. 8.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "One Hundred Fourth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Fiscal Year July 1, 1973, through June 30, 1974." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 104 (1974). p. 48.
Raggio, Olga, ed. "Medieval Art and the Cloisters." Notable Acquisitions (Metropolitan Museum of Art) no. 1965/1975 (1975). p. 152.
Raggio, Olga, ed. Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965-1975; Explanatory Texts. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975. p. 17.
Nostitz, Charles E. von. "Late Gothic Sculpture of Cologne." PhD diss., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1978. no. 148a, pp. 213–34, 430, fig. 1, 112a–c, g.
Reventlow, Victor. "Restoration and Assembly of the Central Shrine of a Late Fifteenth Century German Altar from Cologne." In Conservation of Wood in Painting and the Decorative Arts, edited by Norman S. Brommelle, Anne Moncrieff, and Perry Smith. London: International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 1978. pp. 99–102, fig. 1–8.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983. no. 38, p. 376.
Wixom, William D. "Medieval Sculpture at The Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 46, no. 3 (Winter 1988-1989). p. 20–21.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994. no. 38, p. 410.
Kempkens, Holger. "Meister Tilman und der Schnitzaltar von St. Kunibert in Köln." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 58 (1997). pp. 58–9, fig. 19.
Wixom, William D. "Riemenschneider in America." In Tilman Riemenschneider: Master Sculptor of the Late Middle Ages, edited by Julien Chapuis. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1999. p. 157.
Karrenbrock, Reinhard. "Kölner Bildschnitzerwerkstätten des späten Mittelalters (1400-1540)." In Die Holzskulpturen des Mittelalters II: Volume 2, 1400 bis 1540; Part 1, Köln, Westfalen, Norddeutschland, edited by Reinhard Karrenbrock. Vol. 2. Cologne: Museum Schnütgen, 2001. pp. 30–32, 39, ill. p. 33.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 97, pp. 136, 198.
Gliesmann, Niklas. "Gotische Skulptur in Köln – von den Parlen bis zu Tilmans Erben." In Glanz und Größe des Mittelalters: Kölner Meisterwerke aus den großen Sammlungen der Welt, edited by Dagmar Täube, and Miriam Verena Fleck. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2011. p. 152.
Täube, Dagmar, and Miriam Verena Fleck, ed. Glanz und Größe des Mittelalters: Kölner Meisterwerke aus den großen Sammlungen der Welt. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2011. p. 374.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 142.
Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop (German, Wittenberg 1515–1586 Wittenberg)
ca. 1545–50
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