Italian school; beginning of the XVIII century.

Italian school; early eighteenth century.
"The Dormition of the Virgin".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has a frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 59 x 113 cm; 82 x 136 cm (frame).
This work attributed to the Italian school of the early eighteenth century, is part of the late Baroque tradition, in which the compositional dramatism and expressive pathos coexist with a colorful and theatrical sensibility.
The scene takes place in an interior space in semi-darkness, where the Virgin's bed occupies the center of the composition. Mary appears reclining, serene, at the moment of her passage, with her face softly illuminated and surrounded by the apostles who are grouped around her in various attitudes of recollection, prayer and study of the Scriptures. Their gestures and postures, some in a meditative attitude, others moved or in reverent silence, transmit the collective and sacred character of the event.
The arrangement of the figures responds to a dynamic rhythm: the figure of St. Peter, standing and holding a crosier, stands out in the left foreground, acting as the spiritual and compositional axis. Around him, the other apostles form a circle that leads the gaze towards the body of the Virgin, reinforcing the centrality of the scene. The baroque chiaroscuro accentuates the hallmarks, while the palette of warm tones, ochers, reds and golds, combines with the intense blues and greens of the Marian mantle, creating a strong effect of chromatic vibration.
In the upper part, discreet angelic figures appear among the clouds, announcing the transcendent dimension of the episode and linking the earthly with the heavenly. The red curtain, unfolded in the background, adds theatricality and emphasizes the sacred character of the event, a common resource in Italian baroque scenography.
From an academic point of view, the work reflects the late Counter-Reformation spirituality, which sought not only to instruct, but also to move the viewer through visual drama. In this representation, the Virgin is not portrayed with the drama of death, but with the serenity of one who is welcomed into the eternal, so that the work combines emotional exaltation with a message of hope and transcendence.