Assumption of the Virgin

1650

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri) Italian, 1591-1666

On View

European, Level 2, South Wing

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance page
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.
Audio Transcript

Please note: This section is empty

About the Artwork

The Assumption became an important theme during the seventeenth century after the Counter Reformation. As angels carry the Virgin up to heaven, she points back toward the city of Rome. This gesture represents the interrelationship between heaven and earth, God and man. Below the Virgin is a panoramic view of the city of Rome: from left to right are the Basilica of Saint John the Lateran, the Colosseum, the Capitoline Palace, the Pantheon, and the Church of Saint Ignatius.

Title Assumption of the Virgin

Artwork Date 1650

Artist Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)

Life Dates 1591-1666

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 121 1/4 × 86 1/2 inches (308 × 219.7 cm) Framed: 133 1/2 × 99 1/4 × 4 inches (3 m 39.1 cm × 252.1 cm × 10.2 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Josephine and Ernest Kanzler Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 71.1

Markings

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance

1650, painted for an unidentified church or monastary (Naples, Italy);
probably 1750s [by 1776], 3rd Earl of Bute (Luton Hoo, England);
1971, by descent to 6th Marquess of Bute;
1971-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Malvasia, C.C. Felsina pittrice, vol. 2. Bologna, 1678, p. 378.

Calvi, J.A. Notizie della vita, e delle opere del Cavaliere Gioan Francesco Barbieri detto il Guercino da Cento, celebre pittore. Bologna, 1808, pp. 124-126.

Barbieri, G. F. (Guercino), et al. Libro dei conti: 1629-1666. Bologna, 1808, pp. 124-125. Reprint, 1841, p. 331.

Malvasia, C.C. Felsina pittrice, vol. 2. Bologna, 1841, pp. 269, 331.

Waagen, G. Treasures of Art in Great Britain, vol. 3. London, 1854, pp. 212, 483.

Exh. cat., Bethnal Green Museum. London, 1883, p. 7, no. 23.

Cummings, F. and C. Elam. Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 99.

Fine Old Master Drawings. Sales cat., Christie's. London, November 23, 1971, p. 35 (ill.), lot 103.

Basket and Day, Exhibition of Drawings. Exh. cat. London, 1972, lot. 9.

Cummings, F. "The Assumption of the Virgin by Guercino." Bulletin of the DIA 51, no. 2-3 (1972): pp. 53-62 (cover ill.).

Selected Works from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1979, p. 145, no. 118.

Salerno, L. I Dipinti di Guercino. 1988, cat. 270.

Stone, D.M. Guercino: catalogo completo. Florence, 1991, p. 266, no. 25.

Guercino. Master Draughtsman. Works from North American Collections. Exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums, et al. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1991, pp. 131-134, no. 57; pp. 134-135, no. 58.

Helston, Michael and Tom Henry. Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections. Exh. cat., The National Gallery, London. London, 1991, pp. 6, 8, (fig. 7).

Russell, Francis. "Guercino in England." In Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections. London, 1991, p. 8 (ill.).

Russell, Francis. "Guercino in England." Burlington Magazine (July 1991): p. 6 (fig. 7).

Guercino: Master Painter Of The Baroque. Exh. cat., Pinacoteca Nazionale. Bologna, 1992, pp. 289–291, cat. 49 (ill.).

Henshaw, Julia P., ed. A Visitor's Guide: The Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1995, p. 192 (ill.).

Ghelfi, B. and D. Mahon, ed. Il libro dei conti del Guercino: 1629-1666. Venice, 1997, pp. 147, 149

Bissell, R.W., A. Derstine, and D. Miller. Masters of Italian Baroque Painting: The Detroit Institute of Arts. London, 2005, pp. 10-11, note 14; 108-111, cat. no. 34.

Derstine, Andria. "The Detroit Institute of Arts and Italian Baroque Painting." In Buying Baroque: Italian Seventeenth-Century Paintings Come to America, ed. Edgar Peters Bowron. University Park, 2017, p. 99.

Turner, Nicholas. The Paintings of Guercino: A revised and Expanded Catalogue raisonné. Rome, 2017, p. 663, no. 373 (ill.).

Ghetti, Enrico. "Da 'Madonna della neve' ad 'Assunzione della Vergine'. Un'altra pala del Guercino per Sebastiano Fabri." Paragone 69, no. 141 (September 2018): pp. 51-67; pp. 51–55, 57, 61, note 2; p. 62, note 10; p. 67, (fig. 52).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Assumption of the Virgin, 1650, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Josephine and Ernest Kanzler Fund, 71.1.