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.
Assumption of the Virgin
1650
Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri)
1591-1666
Italian
Unknown
Oil on canvas
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)
Paintings
European Painting
Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Josephine and Ernest Kanzler Fund
71.1
Public Domain
Markings
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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)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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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.
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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).
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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.
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