''Panciatichi Assumption'' (Italian: ''Assunta Panciatichi'') is a painting by Italian Renaissance artist

Andrea del Sarto Andrea del Sarto (, , ; 16 July 1486 – 29 September 1530) was an Italian painter from Florence, whose career flourished during the High Renaissance and early Mannerism. He was known as an outstanding fresco decorator, painter of altar-pieces, ...

, painted c. 1522-1523. It is housed in the

Galleria Palatina The Palazzo Pitti (), in English sometimes called the Pitti Palace, is a vast, mainly Renaissance, palace in Florence, Italy. It is situated on the south side of the River Arno, a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio. The core of the pres ...

of Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy.

History

The painting was commissioned by Bartolomeo Panciatichi (the Elder) for a private altar in the French church of Notre-Dame-de-Confort, in Lyon; however, when finished, it remained in Italy. It was subsequently acquired by Bartolomeo Panciatichi the Younger, the man later portrayed by

Agnolo Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( it, Il Bronzino ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or reddis ...

. In 1526 Andrea del Sarto used the same composition in the '' Passerini Assumption'', now housed in the same museum. Later, Bartolomeo gifted the work to

Jacopo Salviati Jacopo Salviati (15 September 1461 – 6 September 1533) was a Florentine politician and son-in-law of Lorenzo de' Medici. On 10 September 1486 he married Lorenzo's daughter Lucrezia de' Medici, with whom he had ten children. The son of Giovan ...

, who moved it to his

villa del Poggio Imperiale Villa del Poggio Imperiale (English: Villa of the Imperial Hill) is a predominantly neoclassical former grand ducal villa in Arcetri, just to the south of Florence in Tuscany, Central Italy. Beginning as a villa of the Baroncelli of Florence, ...

. After all Salviati's possessions were confiscated by Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, the villa and all its content went to Paolo Giordano Orsini, husband of the duke's daughter Isabella d'Este. After several changes of property, including a period under the

Odescalchi The House of Erba-Odescalchi () and the House of Odescalchi are branches of an Italian noble family formed by the union of the Erba and Odescalchi families. The Odescalchi family was, since the election of Benedetto Odescalchi as Pope Innocent ...

, the villa returned to the

Medici family The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Muge ...

in 1602. In 1687 it was decided to the move the ''Assumption'' to Pitti Palace, as part of the collection of prince Ferdinando de' Medici. The panel was enlarged in that occasion, in order to mount the same frame of the '' Passerini Assumption'', also taken to the palace.

Description

The work depicts the theme of the Assumption of Mary with two registers: the lower one shows the apostles of Jesus crowding around Mary's empty sepulcher, looking at her while she ascends to heaven in a cloud in the upper part, surrounded by happy puttoes. Andrea del Sarto painted two kneeling apostles in the middle, according to the traditional pyramidal composition of

holy Conversation In art, a (; plural: ''sacre conversazioni''), meaning holy (or sacred) conversation, is a genre developed in Italian Renaissance painting, with a depiction of the Virgin and Child (the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus) amidst a group of sa ...

s, joining them to a circle of other apostles which can be seen, for example, in Raphael's

Oddi Altarpiece The ''Oddi altarpiece'', or more correctly the degli Oddi altarpiece, is an altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin painted in 1502-1504 by the Italian Renaissance master Raphael for the altar of the Oddi family chapel in the church of San Fran ...

. The presence of a grotto at the right is unusual. Mary is looking upwards, surrounded by a celestial light . At her sides are two symmetrical groups of angels, whose tables perhaps were intended to contain the artist's signature, the donor's name and the execution year; another, in the middle, calls the apostles' attention towards Mary. Some of the characters were perhaps portraits of existing people. The apostle kneeling and looking towards the seer, for example, is sometimes identified as Andrea del Sarto's self-portrait.

Sources

External links

Page at the Pitti Museum website
{{Andrea del Sarto 1520s paintings Paintings in the collection of the Galleria Palatina Paintings by Andrea del Sarto category:Paintings of the Assumption of the Virgin Angels in art