This 16th-century oil on panel depicts a Dormitio Virginis possibly attributable to Giovan Filippo Criscuolo (1495-1584), or at any rate to his workshop. The work comes from the Cathedral Church of Lipari where the presence of an altar dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin is documented as early as the first pastoral visit in the late 1500s.
The composition of the work is inspired by the apocryphal narratives according to which, at the time of the Virgin’s death, the apostles miraculously gathered in Jerusalem to pay homage to the Mother of Christ at the moment of her transit. Of note is the presence of the character huddled at the foot of the bier on which the Virgin is lying, in the act of stretching out his hands toward her: this is the Jew whose hands dried up in an attempt to overturn Our Lady’s bier during the funeral procession; according to the apocrypha, he repented of the gesture and begged the Apostles to intercede and, once he was healed, was baptized.
The upper register of the panel depicts the Virgin already in glory, standing and with folded hands, surrounded by light and surrounded by angels.
