(Liège 1641–1711 Amsterdam)
The Assumption of the Virgin,
oil on canvas, 195 x 155 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Belgium

Literature:
A. Roy, Gérard de Lairesse (1641 -1711), Paris, 1992, pp. 328-329, pl. 175a (as a copy)

Alain Roy described the work in his 1992 monograph as a copy, probably executed in the nineteenth century, having only seen a small black and white photo of the work. He now accepts the work to be of the period but is unable to make a definitive judgment.

Arguably the most erudite of the Dutch Classicists, whose writings on art theory cemented the supremacy of history painting over other genres for centuries to come, de Lairesse occasionally made smaller versions of his monumental works. The present picture is a ricordo of an altarpiece commissioned for the now destroyed Cathedral of Saint-Lambert, Liege in 1687 (presently located in the city’s Cathedral of Saint-Paul).

The work depicts the Virgin, in silvery white drapery, ascending upon a cloud above the throng of the apostles, their forms articulated through raking light, with some faces shadowed and others highlighted. The cherubim surmount the scene, whose composition de Lairesse has carefully triangulated to provide an upward thrust to the heavens.