The Dormition of the Virgin

The composition is inspired by the influential print, The Dormition of the Virgin, made by Martin Schongauer early in his career in the 1470s (Bartsch 33). The Swabian artist of the present lot has maintained his own distinctive style, choosing to simplify some of the more elaborate details of the Schongauer print, but he has adopted Schongauer's striking diagonal viewpoint and the ring of the twelve distinctive Apostles clustering around the calm of the Virgin's deathbed. Schongauer's inspiration for the composition derives, in turn, from the fourteen illustrations in the popular contemporary volume, Ars Moriendi.
We are grateful to Mr. Ludwig Meyer for his help in cataloguing this lot.