(Genua 1617/18–1660 Milan)
The Assumption of the Virgin
entwined monogram lower right: AMV,
oil on canvas, 176 x 127 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private Collection, Brescia

Literature:
A. Orlando, Anton Maria Vassallo, Genoa 1999, p. 18, fig. 12

A cloud of putti lifts the Virgin skywards. She is dressed in red with a mantle of blue and gold. A graceful blonde angel bears flowers, while another blows a horn to praise the Virgin in glory. Above, the faces of the putti peep out between the clouds, while the sky is flooded with light.

In terms of staging and composition, this Assumption of the Virgin is based on the highly successful prototype by Anthony van Dyck of Saint Rosalie interceding for the plague-stricken of Palermo, painted in Palermo in 1624 (New York, Metropolitan). This was in turn inspired by the models of his teacher,Pieter Paul Rubens. Many Genoese pictures were derived from these artists; including some noted ones by Anton Maria Vassallo (see: A. Orlando, Anton Maria Vassallo, Genoa 1999, p. 118). Saint Rosalie is distinguished from the Virgin only by the more explicit presence of a crown of roses being placed on her head. Otherwise, the two iconographies are identical.

The present painting was published in the monograph dedicated to the Genoese artist in 1999 (see: literature), and should be noted as being the finest version of the subject known by Vassallo, in terms of its imposing presence, quality and state of conservation. It bears a monogram with the overlapping letters “AMV” in the lower right-hand corner. Vassallo’s Flemish teacher, Vincenzo Malò, himself a pupil of Rubens, who settled in Genoa and in whose studio Vassallo worked as an apprentice, used to sign his works in the same way, with two of his initials coinciding with those of his pupil. It is thus not the monogram that establishes the firm attribution of this fine Assumption to Vassallo, as this may be confused with that of his teacher, nor is it the general Rubens-like appearance. Considered “the most Flemish of the Genoese”, Vassallo´s style is perfectly recognisable here: his typical and distinct manner of handling the mass of nude putti, the way he calibrates light and shade on the skin and faces and the way he constructs the drapery, full of exuberant movement, are unquestionable trademarks of his work.

We are grateful to Anna Orlando for her help in cataloguing the present painting.