The Assumption

17th century
Stift Sankt Florian, Austria

Christ reaches out to Mary as the Apostles watch in wonder. In a device typical of early Baroque, the greeting is ongoing and not quite completed, for Mary is still holding her hands in the gesture of humility. The shape of Mary's cloud and the transition from dark to golden light resemble characteristics of Peter Candid's Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin Mary of 1620.

The beardless youth in the foreground would be St. John the Evangelist. The dog in his hand may have some local significance; it is not an attribute of this saint, nor of the abbey's patrons, St. Augustine and St. Florian.

View this image in full resolution.
Read more about the Assumption.

• Home Page
• Iconography of the Assumption
• This Page

Photographed at the abbey by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.