Unknown maker
Death of the Virginmid-1500s
This panel reveals a long history of changes. The initial work was painted on a single slab of wood, with strips left unpainted along the top and bottom. More about this work
About this work
This panel reveals a long history of changes. The initial work was painted on a single slab of wood, with strips left unpainted along the top and bottom. At an unknown time, the panel was probably cut down on the right and left sides, and the two blank strips at the top and bottom were filled in to enlarge the picture, most likely to fit its current, elaborately carved, 18th-century frame. Although these additions must have been initially more convincing, they were painted to match the yellowed and darkened original image, and thus no longer match the original paint. The flat and mismatched handling of the draperies in the lower portion also signal the intervention of a subsequent hand. The painting may have been part of an altarpiece as the predella, a long, horizontal painting along the base. The bottom of this panel exhibits signs of damage from fire and smoke, perhaps from the candles that could have been placed in front of it.
Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art.
How it was made
- Oil on panel
- Oil paint on prepared wooden boards, usually oak in the north and poplar in Italy. The rigid, smooth surface suits fine detail and thin, glowing glazes.
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Renaissance
European art from about 1400 to 1600, when painters rediscovered perspective and the classical past.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Cleveland Museum of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1916.797
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
- Type
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
