Dormition of the Virgin

Artist School of Andrey Rublyov (Russian, ca.1360/70-1427/30)

Place of Originprobably Russia

Dateabout 1420

Dimensions8 7/8 × 7 1/8 × 1/2 in. (22.5 × 18.1 × 1.3 cm)

Mediumtempera and gesso on wood

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1948.76

Not on View

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesMuratoff, Paul, The Charles Seltman Collection of Byzantine Paintings, 1939. (Never published.)

Seltman, Charles T., "The Greek Tradition in Modern Art," Studio, vol. 131, January-June 1946, p. 112, repr. p. 113.

Exhibition HistoryLondon, Courtauld Institute, Byzantine and Greek Paintings, no. 17, 1933.

London, Russian Art, 1935, no. 47.

London, Burlington House, Greek Art, 1946, cat. no. 342, p. 48, repr. pl. 84.

Label TextThe Dormition, or death, of the Virgin Mary was one of the most frequently depicted subjects in the Byzantine icon tradition in Russia. The icon depicts the Virgin on her deathbed surrounded by the apostles, Christ’s disciples. Above, Christ appears to receive her soul, shown as a swaddled baby—an inversion of depictions of the Virgin with the Christ Child.