Ludovico Carracci
, Italian, 1555-1619
Title
The Apostles Carrying the Body of The Virgin to the Tomb (for the Parma Galleria Nazionale oil, c.1607)Datec.1605-1609
MediumInk and wash with white highlights and scraping out on paper
Dimensions
51.3 x 26.7 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1972
Object numberNGI.7485
DescriptionThe death or dormition of the Virgin is not recorded by the gospel writers. Despite this, churches dedicated to the Virgin often show scenes from this legend. Carracci depicts the moment when a Jewish high priest tries to overturn the stretcher: 'Then suddenly both his hands waxed dry and cleaved to the bier, so that he hung by the hands on the bier, and was sore tormented and wept and brayed.' The priest is shown sprawling on the ground while his hands remain stuck to the stretcher.ProvenanceCount Aldrovandi; Sir Thomas Lawrence; Lord Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmore; purchased, Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1972, Ellesmore Sale, lot 16 Exhibition HistoryDrawings by the Carracci and Other Masters, P. & D. Colnaghi, London, 1955
Mostra dei Carracci - (Disegni), Bologna, 1956
Master European Drawings From the Collection of the National Gallery of Ireland, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Centre, Colorado; Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin; Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana; The Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minnesota; The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1983
Lawrence Gallery, London, date unknown