The Dormition of the Virgin

Jacques Juliot

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In keeping with apocryphal accounts of the Dormition, the Apostles have gathered around the Virgin’s deathbed. Closest to her stands Saint John the Evangelist, holding a palm branch; beside him, Saint Peter conducts the service, cradling a book in his arms. Another apostle leans over the foot of the bed to sprinkle holy water; the figure behind him, swinging an incense burner, may be Saint　 Andrew. While the classically inspired setting is characteristic of the new Renaissance style, the figures’ voluminous draperies with deep folds reflect an older, Flemish tradition. The panel was likely made for a church altarpiece, possibly one executed for the monastery at Larrivour (near Troyes) and subsequently dismantled.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art