Lot Essay
An early work by the artist, this is possibly a study for an Assumption of the Virgin. Similar groups of figures are found in drawings of this subject sold at Christie's London, 6 December 1972, lot 40, and in the Graphische Sammlung, Munich, H. Tietze and E. Tietze-Conrat, The Drawings of the Venetian Painters in the 15th and 16th Century, New York, 1970, no. 1037.I,23. A modello of this subject is in the Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice, S. Mason Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane, l'opera completa, Milan, 1984, no. 558, fig. 71.