{
"data": {
"id": 132647,
"accession_number": "1955.165",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Sketch for \"The Assumption of the Virgin\" (for St. James, Zbraslav, near Prague)?, c. 1744. Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682\u20131754). Oil on canvas; framed: 85 x 51.5 x 6.5 cm (33 7/16 x 20 1/4 x 2 9/16 in.); unframed: 71.6 x 38.2 cm (28 3/16 x 15 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. N. Lester Farnacy, 1955.165",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Sketch for \"The Assumption of the Virgin\" (for St. James, Zbraslav, near Prague)?",
"creation_date": "c. 1744",
"creation_date_earliest": 1739,
"creation_date_latest": 1749,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Italy, 18th century"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "P - Italian 18th Century",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 85 x 51.5 x 6.5 cm (33 7/16 x 20 1/4 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 71.6 x 38.2 cm (28 3/16 x 15 1/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.85,
"height_inch": 33,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.4375,
"width": 0.515,
"width_inch": 20,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"depth": 0.065,
"depth_inch": 2,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5625
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.716,
"height_inch": 28,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.1875,
"width": 0.382,
"width_inch": 15,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 300859,
"title": "The Venetian Tradition",
"description": "The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957).",
"opening_date": "1956-11-08T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 517756,
"title": "From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works of European and American Artists",
"description": "From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works of European and American Artists. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (organizer) (October 22-December 8, 1968).",
"opening_date": "1968-10-22T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "CMA, 1956: \"The Venetian Tradition,\" cat. no. 28.",
"opening_date": "1956-01-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Akron Art Insitute, October 1-31, 1957: \"Masterpieces Series,\"",
"opening_date": "1931-10-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"description": "Balitmore (Maryland) Museum of Art, October 22-December 8, 1968: \" From El Greco to Pollock: Early and Late Works of European and American Artists,\" cat. no. 38, repr.",
"opening_date": "1968-10-22T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1955-",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Dr. and Mrs. N. Lester Farnacy, by gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "UNtil 1955",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(Alessandro Morandotti [1909-1979] Rome)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Hans Dietrich Gronau [1904-1951] or Carmen Groneau [1910-1999], London1",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"1The price list for the 1950 Sotheby's sale lists \"Gronau\" as the buyer of this painting. Gronau could refer either to Hans Dietrich Gronau, an art historian, or his wife, Carmen, who would later become head of the Old Master Paintings department at Sotheby's, London. A \"Mrs. Gronau\" appears in the Getty Provenance Index database in the provenance of a sculpture in the National Gallery, London.
"
],
"date": "1950",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(Mrs. Tancred Borenius sale, Sotheby\u2019s, London, June 7, 1950, lot 126, sold to Gronau)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1950",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Anne-Marie R\u00fcneberg Borenius, Coombe Bissett, Wiltshire, consigned to Sotheby\u2019s",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1948-1950",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "Tancred Borenius [1885-1948], London, by descent to his wife, Anne-Marie R\u00fcneberg1",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"1In 1955, art dealer Francis Matthiesen wrote to CMA curator Henry Sayles Francis: \u201cI remember the \u201cAssumption of the Virgin\u201d really well - I saw it many times in Tancred Borenius\u2019 house.\u201d
"
],
"date": "Until 1948",
"sortorder": 7
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "According to Roman Catholic theology, the Assumption is the movement of the Virgin Mary's body and soul into heaven. Thus the central figure of the Virgin dominates this scene of the Assumption, outstretching her arms and supported by two angels as she ascends into heaven. Below, saints surround the Virgin's tomb. St. Peter reaches for the foot of the ascending Virgin, suggesting a connection between heaven and earth. Giovanni Battista Piazzetta created this work as a sketch for his larger altarpiece commissioned in 1743 for the Church of St. James in Zbraslav, near Prague. The Assumption of the Virgin is a rare oil sketch by Piazzetta, and the larger composition adheres closely to this model. One difference between the sketch and the altarpiece is that the saints are illuminated more in the preliminary work. A divine light shines on the faces of the Virgin and the figures below her. Above the other figures, the Virgin appears remote and focuses on heaven as she looks upwards and beyond the painting's borders. The grouping of the figures in the center of this painting creates a vast surrounding space which fittingly gives this altarpiece sketch a sense of monumentality.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60516634"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1955.165-sketch-for-the-assum"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Sotheby's (Firm). Old Master Drawings and Paintings. June 7, 1950.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sotheby's (Firm). Old Master Drawings and Paintings. June 7, 1950.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sotheby's (Firm). Old Master Drawings and Paintings. 1950.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sotheby's (Firm). Old Master Drawings and Paintings. 1950.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Francis Matthiesen, letter to Henry Sayles Francis, Nov. 9, 1955, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Francis, Henry. \"Piazetta's Model for 'The Assumption of the Virgin.'\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 8 (October 1955): 189-191.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 189; Reproduced: p. 190",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25142065"
},
{
"citation": "Francis, Henry Sayles. Venetian Tradition: Catalogue of the Exhibition. [Cleveland, Ohio]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1956.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 27, no. 28",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 143",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n167"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 143",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n167"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 142",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n162"
},
{
"citation": "The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 389-391; Reproduced: p. 390",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1955.165",
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"creditline": "Gift of Dr. and Mrs. N. Lester Farnacy",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
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"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 132647,
"creators": [
{
"id": 1198,
"description": "Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682\u20131754)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1682",
"death_year": "1754",
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"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1955-03-10T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1739,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "c. 1744",
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"record_type": "object",
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"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-07-25 11:42:19.262000"
}
}