‘Death of the Virgin’ was created in c.1470 by Hugo van der Goes in Northern Renaissance style. Upon completion, it was deemed unfit for the parish, who rejected the depiction of the dead body of Mary. Other reports say the painting was unfit for the parish because of Mary’s bare legs. The theme of depicting the death of the Virgin Mary itself is Byzantine in origin.
In their view the pared down and contracted manner of the work is due to a desire to "stress the solemnity of the event and its miraculous nature, van der Goes may have decided that material richness would be distracting and indecorous. It was painted by an unknown master during the reign of Charles IV and belongs to the broader circle of paintings executed in a similar way, such as the Vyšší Brod Altarpiece, the Kaufmann Crucifixion and the panels of the Morgan Collection (the Small Morgan Panels). The Death of the Virgin is an oil on oak panel by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes.
[7] Art historian Erwin Panofsky described van der Goes as "the first artist to live up to a concept unknown to the Middle Ages but cherished by the European mind ever after, the concept of a genius both blessed and cursed with his diversity from ordinary human beings." Death of the Virgin was almost certainly painted on commission and along with his Monforte and Portinari altarpieces is one of van der Goes most important works.
The work is a highly advanced example of the Gothic style, combining elements of Northern European Gothic and the strong influence of Italian, more specifically Sienese painting.
The fragment of Christ with the Virgin's Soul, now in Ferrara, was most likely part of the original composition. The work was originally part of the decoration of the Castle chapel, together with three panels now in the Uffizi of Florence (Adoration of the Magi, The Ascension and The Circumcision) and one now in Ferrara (Christ Bearing the Soul of the Virgin). Art historian Lorne Campbell writes, "it is possible that the Brunswick drawing reflects one of his earliest ideas for the Bruges painting and that the Berlin, Prague and London pictures echo, however distantly, a later stage in his development of the Bruges composition.[9]. Inspiration for this work can be detected in Petrus Christus' c 1457–67 Death of the Virgin[11][5] and by works attributed to the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. The scene is borrowed from Jacobus de Voragine's thirteenth-century "Legenda aurea"[1] which relates how the apostles were brought, at Mary's request, on clouds by angels to a house near Mount Zion to be with her in her final three days. The New Testamentdoes not mention the matter at al… This painting was completed at a time when the dogma of the Assumption of Mary was not yet formally enunciated ex cathedra by the pope, but had been gaining ground for some centuries. This was first recorded in the Czech lands from the 1360s. This painting perfectly illustrates the iconographic and formal revolution that Caravag… Two similar paintings in the Berlin State Museums, the National Gallery, London, are attributed as "after van der Goes". Her skin is thin and pallid, her hands clasped in prayer.
The work was commissioned by a Vatican law official for his family chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, but was refused by the clergy who considered it unworthy of the site. This depiction became less common as the doctrine of the Assumption gained support in the Roman Catholic Church from the Late Middle Ages onward. Ridderbos, Bernhard. The Kolowrats owned it until 1946. [5], Dormition of the Virgin, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_the_Virgin_Mary_of_Košátky&oldid=942422762, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Jitka Pazderová, Zobrazení Smrti Panny Marie v umění českého středověku, bakalářská práce, FF UP v Olomouci, 2014, Mateusz Kapustka, Jan Klípa, Andrzej Kozieł, Piotr Oszczanowski, Śląsk - perła w Koronie Czeskiej. A number of art historians, including Max Friedländer, view the work as painted c. 1480 when the artist first began to display signs of mental suffering and thus view it as an expression of his illness. [4] According to Lorne Campbell, the painting is van der Goes' "most idiosyncratic masterpiece". [4], The Death marks a break in van der Goes style; line has become more important, setting is eliminated and the image lacks depth and is tightly contracted with only the bed, door and the body of the Virgin giving spatial indicators. It originally belonged to the Krabice of Veitmile family that purchased Košátky fortress in 1420, and its actual owner was in all likelihood Beneš Krabice of Veitmile (Benesch von Weitmühl), the chronicler and director of the construction of St Vitus Cathedral. Completed c 1472–80, it shows the Virgin Mary on her deathbed surrounded by the Twelve Apostles. They are usually thought to be later versions of a pen on paper drawing in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, probably a copy of an original preparatory sketch by van der Goes.
In their view the pared down and contracted manner of the work is due to a desire to "stress the solemnity of the event and its miraculous nature, van der Goes may have decided that material richness would be distracting and indecorous. It was painted by an unknown master during the reign of Charles IV and belongs to the broader circle of paintings executed in a similar way, such as the Vyšší Brod Altarpiece, the Kaufmann Crucifixion and the panels of the Morgan Collection (the Small Morgan Panels). The Death of the Virgin is an oil on oak panel by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes.
[7] Art historian Erwin Panofsky described van der Goes as "the first artist to live up to a concept unknown to the Middle Ages but cherished by the European mind ever after, the concept of a genius both blessed and cursed with his diversity from ordinary human beings." Death of the Virgin was almost certainly painted on commission and along with his Monforte and Portinari altarpieces is one of van der Goes most important works.
The work is a highly advanced example of the Gothic style, combining elements of Northern European Gothic and the strong influence of Italian, more specifically Sienese painting.
The fragment of Christ with the Virgin's Soul, now in Ferrara, was most likely part of the original composition. The work was originally part of the decoration of the Castle chapel, together with three panels now in the Uffizi of Florence (Adoration of the Magi, The Ascension and The Circumcision) and one now in Ferrara (Christ Bearing the Soul of the Virgin). Art historian Lorne Campbell writes, "it is possible that the Brunswick drawing reflects one of his earliest ideas for the Bruges painting and that the Berlin, Prague and London pictures echo, however distantly, a later stage in his development of the Bruges composition.[9]. Inspiration for this work can be detected in Petrus Christus' c 1457–67 Death of the Virgin[11][5] and by works attributed to the workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. The scene is borrowed from Jacobus de Voragine's thirteenth-century "Legenda aurea"[1] which relates how the apostles were brought, at Mary's request, on clouds by angels to a house near Mount Zion to be with her in her final three days. The New Testamentdoes not mention the matter at al… This painting was completed at a time when the dogma of the Assumption of Mary was not yet formally enunciated ex cathedra by the pope, but had been gaining ground for some centuries. This was first recorded in the Czech lands from the 1360s. This painting perfectly illustrates the iconographic and formal revolution that Caravag… Two similar paintings in the Berlin State Museums, the National Gallery, London, are attributed as "after van der Goes". Her skin is thin and pallid, her hands clasped in prayer.
The work was commissioned by a Vatican law official for his family chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, but was refused by the clergy who considered it unworthy of the site. This depiction became less common as the doctrine of the Assumption gained support in the Roman Catholic Church from the Late Middle Ages onward. Ridderbos, Bernhard. The Kolowrats owned it until 1946. [5], Dormition of the Virgin, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_of_the_Virgin_Mary_of_Košátky&oldid=942422762, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Jitka Pazderová, Zobrazení Smrti Panny Marie v umění českého středověku, bakalářská práce, FF UP v Olomouci, 2014, Mateusz Kapustka, Jan Klípa, Andrzej Kozieł, Piotr Oszczanowski, Śląsk - perła w Koronie Czeskiej. A number of art historians, including Max Friedländer, view the work as painted c. 1480 when the artist first began to display signs of mental suffering and thus view it as an expression of his illness. [4] According to Lorne Campbell, the painting is van der Goes' "most idiosyncratic masterpiece". [4], The Death marks a break in van der Goes style; line has become more important, setting is eliminated and the image lacks depth and is tightly contracted with only the bed, door and the body of the Virgin giving spatial indicators. It originally belonged to the Krabice of Veitmile family that purchased Košátky fortress in 1420, and its actual owner was in all likelihood Beneš Krabice of Veitmile (Benesch von Weitmühl), the chronicler and director of the construction of St Vitus Cathedral. Completed c 1472–80, it shows the Virgin Mary on her deathbed surrounded by the Twelve Apostles. They are usually thought to be later versions of a pen on paper drawing in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, probably a copy of an original preparatory sketch by van der Goes.