Austria, possibly Bohemia, early 15th Century / c. 1400
Death of the Virgin
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Death of the Virgin as painting (Austria, possibly Bohemia, early 15th Century · c. 1400).
The artist was named for a painting that was once in the Cistercian monastery of Heiligenkreuz in Austria.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this painting as tempera and oil with gold on panel and credits Master of Heiligenkreuz (Austrian).
The museum's collection notes: Christ’s apostles visit the Virgin upon her deathbed. Saint Peter, wearing white robes and the papal tiara, performs funerary rites, reciting prayers and sprinkling holy water on the Virgin’s body. Above, angels engraved upon the golden background celebrate the assumption of the Virgin heavenward. Once joined to another panel titled The Death of Saint Clare (National Gallery, Washington, D.C.), this double representation of saintly deaths may have been used in funerary services in the convent of Clarissan nuns for which it was made.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtDeath of the VirginOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.