Altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin
The life-size sketch of the Altarpiece of the Virgin of the Assumption was created by Lucio Fontana in 1955 following the competition announced in November 1950 by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo in conjunction with the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary by Pope Pius XII. Conceived as an altarpiece intended for a minor nave of the cathedral, the altarpiece was designed to be translated into marble and remained at the sketch stage. The work represents the monumental figure of the Virgin of the Assumption on a wavy background, in the centre; at his feet there is a small predella depicting an intense Pietà. The contrast between the explosive extroversion of the Assumption and the intimate concentration of the Pietà is strong.
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Artwork details
- Artist:
- Lucio Fontana (Rosario di Santa Fé, Argentina 1899 – Comabbio (VA) 1968)
- Title:
- Altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin
- Date:
- 1950-1955
- Medium and technique:
- Plaster
- Dimensions:
- 320 × 180 × 50 cm
- Inventory:
- MD 2000.019.006-007
- Location
-
Location: Lucio Fontana Room, ground floor
The gallery dedicated to Lucio Fontana brings together works by the artist placed on loan at the Diocesan Museum at different times, bearing witness to his remarkable work in religious sculpture in Milan. In 2000, the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo lent the full-scale model for the Altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin and a group of five plaster models submitted to the competition launched in 1950 for the cathedral’s fifth door. The competition’s theme, the Origins and History of the Cathedral, had been chosen by the Archbishop of Milan himself, Blessed Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster. After submitting a design that stood out in the first round for its inventive composition, Fontana was encouraged by the committee to enter the second round with changes to its form and composition. In 1952, Fontana shared first prize with Luciano Minguzzi, but in the following years, weary of the committee’s prolonged indecision, he abandoned the project. In 2011, the Fontana collection was expanded by the addition of the “White” Stations of the Cross of 1955, on loan from the Lombardy Region. The artist conceived this work as part of a project for the chapel of the Casa Materna Asili Nido Ada Bolchini Dell’Acqua, in Via Cascina Corba, Milan.
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