The Assumption of the Virgin

Artist Massimo Stanzione Italian, 1585–1656

Datecirca 1630–1635

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions108 1/2 x 74 5/8 in. (275.6 x 189.5 cm)
Frame: 126 5/8 x 92 3/8 in. (321.6 x 234.6 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Object numberGL.60.17.52

On View

On view

ProvenanceGranada, Spain in 1863; sold to Sir Francis Cook (1817–1901) [1], Doughty House, Richmond, as Alonso Cano, The Virgin in Glory; through inheritance 1901 to his son; Sir Frederick Cook (1844–1920), Doughty House, Richmond; through inheritance 1920 to his son; Sir Herbert Cook (1868–1939), Doughty House, Richmond; by bequest to his son; Sir Francis Cook (1907–1978), London, until at least 1951 [2]; sold to/through Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York; sold 1955 to Samuel H. Kress, New York; given to NCMA, 1960.

[1] Sir Francis Cook lent the painting to the National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds, 1868, no. 45, where it is stated, “Painted about 1660. Bought at Grenada, in 1863. Contributed by F. Cook, Esq.” Shapley, p. 96, incorrectly says that the painting was acquired in Granada in 1863 by Sir Henry Wellesley (1773–1847), first Lord Cowley, the younger brother of the Duke of Wellington and ambassador to Spain from 1809 to 1823. Shapley further states that the painting passed to his son; Henry Richard Charles Wellesley (1804–1884), first Earl Cowley, and was sold at his estate sale at Christie’s, 18 July 1885, lot 27, as Alonzo Cano. Because Cook owned the painting by 1868, the painting sold by Cowley’s heirs in 1885, described as “A. Cano, The Assumption of the Virgin,” must have been another painting, possibly the painting Cowley exhibited as no. 98 at the British Institution in 1838: Alonzo Cano, Vision of the Crescent.

[2] Catalogue of the Exhibition of Works by Holbein & Other Masters of the 16th and 17th Centuries, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 1950–51, cat. no. 321, lent by Sir Francis Cook, Bart.

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