The Assumption of the Virgin (figure 1) is a religious, Renaissance painting portraying Virgin Mary’s ascension to heaven after her death. It was created by an Italian painter Neri di Bicci c. 1455-1456. The piece is an egg tempera with oil glazes and gold leaf on wood, likely poplar, measuring 216 centimeters in height and 221 in length with some irregularities on the top. This painting is currently located at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada. The piece was originally commissioned on February 28 of 1454 as an altarpiece for the Spini family’s chapel in Santa Trìnita, Florence. The frame around the composition was built by Giuliano da Maiano, an Italian architect and wood-carver, part of a family of artists.
Artworks depicting…show more content… Mary had a very important meaning for the Spini family. The Spini family was a wealthy family of bankers for the Pope Boniface. They reached the pinnacle of success in the thirteenth century and remained a long time on top of the economic and political power. It lasted until the first decades of the fifteenth century, when, with the emergence supremacy of the Medici, they found themselves going through a period of decline. The family, after reaching rock bottom, liked to think that they had not been defeated, and like the Virgin, they would rise again. The placement of The Assumption of the Virgin in Santa Trìnita, could be seen as a proclamation that the family’s faith in the Virgin would turn around their situation.
In the image, Saint Thomas distrusted Mary’s identity in almost the same way he doubted Christ’s resurrection. With Christ, he asked for proof, for which Christ showed the holes in his hands that were made by soldiers who nailed him to the cross. In the composition, Thomas seeks a similar proof, to which she gave her sash. This produces a parallel between the Virgin Mary and