The Assumption of the Virgin

Around 1686 Giuseppe Passeri began to work on the theme of the Assumption of the Virgin. In that year, he completed a fresco of this subject in the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome (fig. 1), while a few years later he painted a large altarpiece, with a similar composition, now in Rimini. Later he also produced an engraved version for Alessandro Mazzinelli’s Uffizio della B. V. Maria, published in 1707. Many preparatory drawings and bozzetti by Passeri related to the subject survive (see Old Master and 19th Century, op. cit., no. 13). The present drawing is a highly finished and elaborate composition related to the frescoed version Santa Maria in Aracoeli, similar to the finished work, but with variations. The drawing is executed in a technique often used by the artist, employing reddish-brown backgrounds, dark inks, and abundant white heightening to confer a highly painterly quality to the composition.