The Assumption of the Virgin

c. 1630/1632

Nicolas Poussin

Artist, French, 1594 - 1665

A woman floats among billowing clouds over a rectangular stone coffin in this vertical painting. Ten nude, baby-like putti support her body, float alongside her, or scatter flowers, while more winged baby heads are tucked among the parchment-brown clouds. The woman and all the babies have pale, peachy skin. The woman rises with her body facing our left, almost in profile. She looks up with dark eyes so we see the underside of her straight nose, and her coral-pink lips are parted. Her chestnut-brown hair is pulled back, and a scarf of the same color wraps across her shoulders. Her rose-pink dress is belted under her bust. It has puffy long sleeves, and the bottom hem flutters around her bare feet. Her lower torso and legs are wrapped with a voluminous, azure-blue cloak. She reaches her hands slightly forward, palms facing up. All the babyish putti have short blond or light brown hair, chubby bodies, and rosy cheeks. Four hold up or support the woman's legs, and many of them reach, point, or look upward. Another floats near her right arm, farther from us. Below, a white cloth is bunched and draped over the side of the stone coffin closer to us. Three child-like putti scatter white flowers into the coffin, and more are on the ground around it. Two of those putti have wings, one in golden yellow and the other slate blue. The clouds around the woman seem to emanate from behind the coffin to swirl up and around her. Two more putti hold up the clouds along the top edge of the composition. The scene is flanked to either side by peanut-brown, fluted stone columns, which extend off the top edge of the composition. The sky beyond is streaked with apricot peach near the horizon and shifts to topaz blue above.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 36

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 134.4 x 98.1 cm (52 15/16 x 38 5/8 in.)
    framed: 171.8 x 135.3 x 13.7 cm (67 5/8 x 53 1/4 x 5 3/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.5.1

More About this Artwork

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably the painting recorded in the posthumous 1638 inventory of Vincenzo Giustiniani [1564-1637], Rome,[1] who may have commissioned it, and probably the painting still recorded in the Palazzo Giustiniani in 1688. Conte Niccolò Soderini [d. 1779], Rome, by 1750; sold by 20 September 1764 for 500 crowns through (James Byres, Rome) to Brownlow Cecil, 9th earl of Exeter [1725-1793],[2] Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire; by inheritance to his nephew, Henry Cecil, 10th earl and 1st marquess of Exeter [1754-1804], Burghley House; by inheritance to his son, Brownlow Cecil, 2nd marquess of Exeter [1795-1867], Burghley House; by inheritance to his son, William Alleyne Cecil, 3rd marquess of Exeter [1825-1895], Burghley House; by inheritance his son, Brownlow Henry George Cecil, 4th marquess of Exeter [1849-1898], Burghley House; by inheritance to his son, William Thomas Brownlow Cecil, 5th marquess of Exeter [1876-1956], Burghley House; by inheritance to his son, David George Brownlow Cecil, 6th marquess of Exeter [1905-1981], Burghley House; sold 1962 to (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., Paris, New York, and London); sold 1963 to NGA.
[1] Silvia Danesi Squarzina, La collezione Giustiniani, 3 vols., Torino: 2003: 1:297, fig. 114.
[2] Timothy Standring, "Poussin et le Cardinal Massimi...," in Alain Mérot, ed., Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665): Actes du colloque organisée au musée du Louvre, 19-21 oct., 1994, 2 vols., Paris, 1996: 1:385 n. First noted by Brinsley Ford, "James Byres: Principal Antiquarian for the English Visitors to Rome," Apollo 99 (1974): 451.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1885

  • Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1885, no. 172.

1960

  • Exposition Nicolas Poussin, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1960, no. 7, repro.

1969

  • In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1982

  • France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth Century French Paintings in American Collections, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago, 1982, no. 88, repro.

1988

  • Poussin: The Early Years in Rome, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1988, no. 68.

1994

  • Nicolas Poussin, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1994-1995, no. 23, repro. (shown only in London in 1995).

1995

  • Verdi, Richard, et al. Nicolas Poussin, 1594 – 1665. (Exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts.) London, 1995: 186.

1996

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Musée de Grenoble, France, 1996-1997.

2015

  • Poussin et Dieu, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2015, no. 8, repro.

Bibliography

1960

  • Salerno, L. “The Picture Gallery of Vincenzo Giustiniani, II: The Inventory, Part I.” The Burlington Magazine 102, no. 684 (March 1960): 97.

  • Mahon, Denis. “Poussin’s Early Development: An Alternative Hypothesis.” The Burlington Magazine 102, no. 688 (July 1960): 102, 289, 292, 294.

1961

  • Thuillier, Jacques. “L’année Poussin.” Art de France 1 (1961): 341.

1962

  • Mahon, Denis. “Poussiniana: Afterthoughts Arising from the Exhibition.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 6, 60 (July – Aug. 1962): 50-51, 58-61. Reprint New York, 1962.

1963

  • Haskell, Francis. Patrons and Painters: A Study in the Relations Between Italian Art and Society in the Age of the Baroque. London, 1963: 95.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 105.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:286, color repro.

1967

  • Blunt, Anthony. Nicolas Poussin: The A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts (1958). 2 vols. New York, 1967. Reprint London, 1995: 72-73.

1968

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 66, color repro.

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 93, repro.

1969

  • Badt, Kurt. Die Kunst des Nicolas Poussin. 2 vols. Cologne, 1969: 1:573.

1974

  • Blunt, Anthony. “The Complete Poussin.” Review of Jacques Thuillier, L’opera completa di Poussin. The Burlington Magazine 116, no. 861 (Dec. 1974): 762.

  • Thuillier, Jacques. L’opera completa di Poussin. Milan, 1974. French ed., Tout l’oeuvre peint de Poussin. Paris, 1974: 116.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 274, repro.

1980

  • Wild, Doris. Nicolas Poussin. 2 vols. Zürich, 1980: 2: no. 27.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 314, no. 414, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 319, repro.

  • Wright, Christopher. Poussin Paintings. A Catalogue Raisonné. London, 1985: 170.

  • Ford, Brinsley. "Pictures lost to the Nation." NACF Magazine 29 (Christmas 1985): 20.

1988

  • Oberhuber, Konrad. Poussin, The Early Years in Rome: The Origins of French Classicism. New York, 1988: 207.

1990

  • Mérot, Alain. Nicolas Poussin. New York, 1990: 49-50.

1996

  • Standring, Timothy. "Poussin et le Cardinal Massimi." In Nicolas Poussin (1594 – 1665): Actes du colloque organisée au musée du Louvre, 19 – 21 oct., 1994. Ed. Alain Mérot. Paris, 1996: 1: 371.

1998

  • Blessed Art Thou Among Women: Reflections on Mary in Our World Today. New York, 1997: 52, repro.

  • Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. "Virgin/Virginity." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. Edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:905.

  • Mahon, Denis. Nicolas Poussin: i primi anni romani. Milan, 1998: 152.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 183, no. 143, color repro.

2005

  • Baillio, Joseph, et al. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York. Exh. cat. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2005: 50, fig. 6, 71 (not in the exhibition).

2009

  • Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 82, 374-379, color repro.

Inscriptions

On stretcher: label, "ROYAL ACADEMY OF THE WORKS OF THE OLD MASTERS 1885," with the owner listed as the "Marquis of Exeter, Burghley House, Stamford"; "303"; "53". Wirtten on crossbar: "23119".

Wikidata ID

Q20177097

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