Full Record |
| Title |
The Dormition of the Virgin |
| Alternative Title |
Death of the Virgin Mary |
| Collection |
Wellcome Library |
| Artist |
After Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch painter, draftsman and printmaker, 1606-1669)
Previously attributed to Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch painter, draftsman and printmaker, 1606-1669) |
| Date Earliest |
1639 |
| Date Latest |
possibly 1800 |
| Description |
This work, by an unknown artist, is after an etching by Rembrandt. Rembrandt, chose to record the Eastern Orthodox Christian version of this episode who believe that Mary died a natural death and was not resurrected before being assumed into Heaven. It has been suggested that the painting could be the work of Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774) who is known to have painted other etchings by Rembrandt. |
| Current Accession Number |
44832i |
| Former Accession Number |
P 2915/1939 |
| Subject |
religion (Dormition of the Virgin); interior; figure |
| Measurements |
79.1 x 64.7 cm cm (estimate) |
| Material |
oil on canvas |
| Acquisition Details |
Bequeathed by Henry Solomon Wellcome 1936. |
| Provenance |
In the collection of Dr Copland, MD, London by 1868; in the collection of Henry Solomon Wellcome by 1913. |
| Principal Exhibitions |
National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds 1868, cat. no. 576 as Death of the Virgin lent by Dr Copland; XVIIth International Congress of Medicine, Wigmore St, London, 1913, cat. no. 138 as Deathbed Scene with Physician at Bedside by 'After Rembrandt'. |
| Publications |
National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds 1868, cat. no. 576, p. 45 as Death of the Virgin; Wellcome, H., XVIIth International Congress of Medicine: Handbook of the Historical Medical Museum Organized by Henry S. Wellcome (the Museum of the Section of the History of Medicine), London 1913, cat. no. 138, p. 99; Bartsch, A., Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l'oeuvre de Rembrandt, Vienne, 1799, cat. no. 99. |
| Notes |
This work is after an etching by Rembrandt (Bartsch and Hollstein no. 99). It was suggested that the painting could be the work of Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774) who is known to have painted other etchings by Rembrandt. Mounts at the Witt suggest that this work could be by Dietrich. There is a mount in the Witt of an etching now in the Walsall Art Gallery showing that the Wellcome painting is based on the Rembrandt etching (39.5 x 31cm) and a 'plume au lavis de sepia' by 'school of Rembrandt', 22 x 31 cm, that was included in the Van Gogh Sale, de Roos, Amsterdam, 2-3 December 1913. There was nothing to suggest that Rembrandt ever painted this in oil. The inscription 'K626' appears on a label on the reverse. |
| Rights Owner |
(c) The Wellcome Trust |
| Author |
Dr Madeleine Korn |
|
