Death of the Virgin (Caravaggio)
| Death of the Virgin | |
|---|---|
| Italian: Morte della vergine, Italian: Transito della Madonna | |
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| Artist | Caravaggio |
| Year | 1604-1606, 1602 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 369 cm × 245 cm (145 in × 96 in) |
| Location | Louvre, Paris |
 Smarthistory - Caravaggio's Death of the Virgin
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Death of the Virgin (1606) is a painting completed by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio. It is a near contemporary with Caravaggio's Madonna with Saint Anne now at the Musée du Louvre.
When he painted The Death of the Virgin (c. 1601-6), Caravaggio had been working in Rome for fifteen years. The painting was commissioned by Laerzio Cherubini, a papal lawyer, for his chapel in the Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Scala in Trastevere, Rome, the painting could not have been finished before 1605-1606. The depiction of the Death of the Virgin caused a contemporary stir, and was rejected as unfit by the parish.
Giulio Mancini thought Caravaggio modelled a prostitute, possibly his mistress, as the Virgin.Giovanni Baglione and Gian Pietro Bellori attributed the rejection to the appearance of the Virgin. The breach of decorum led to a rejection of the painting by the fathers of Santa Maria della Scala and its replacement by a picture by Carlo Saraceni, a close follower of Caravaggio.
Upon the recommendation by Peter Paul Rubens, who praised it as one of Caravaggio's best works, the painting was bought by Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Giovanni Magni, the duke's ambassador, briefly exhibited the painting in his house on the Via del Corso, between 1 and 7 April 1607. Copying was absolutely forbidden.
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