School of CARLO MARATTA (Camerano, 1625 - Rome, 1713), late 17th century.
"Assumption of the Virgin with the Doctors of the Church". Period copy of the painting by Carlo Maratta in Santa Maria del Popolo (Rome).
Oil on canvas.
Relined in the 19th century.
Perforations. Losses. Repainting.
Eighteenth century frame, later polychromy. Faults due to xylophages.
Measurements: 250 x 132 cm; 273 x 159 x 10 cm (frame).
This painting faithfully reproduces the one painted by Carlo Maratta for the Cybo chapel of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome (1686), commissioned by Cardinal Alderano Cybo. It depicts the Immaculate Conception in Assumption, surrounded by angels worked in grisaille foreshortenings, and the Fathers of the Church (St John, St Gregory, St John Chrysostom and St Augustine) discussing the veracity of this religious event. For the legend of the Assumption of the Virgin, inspired by the rapture of the prophet Elijah and the Ascension of Christ, was not declared a dogma of faith until 1950, after centuries in which belief in it had been regarded as a matter of personal piety. Stylistically, we see the classicist language developed by Maratta: despite the typically baroque composition, ascensional and with a break in glory, the figures are resolved according to classical canons. His sculptural poses, the tunics with broken drapery and the desire to avoid any sensuality in colour and form in order to essentialise the timeless, were characteristic of Baroque classicism.