The Death of the Virgin

Netherlandish 14th Century

National Gallery of Art

Nineteen people gathered around a woman who lies on a bed are drawn with delicate, silvery-brown lines on light aqua-tinted, horizontally oriented paper. The woman on the bed lies with her eyes closed and her body wrapped in cloth that covers everything except her face and hands, which are crossed. Eleven men and women wearing robes sit across the bottom of the sheet turned away from us or toward each other. Many have delicate lines suggesting halos. In the top right quadrant of the drawing, a woman covers her face with her hands, and a man resting his chin in his hand wraps an arm around a young child, who holds a chalice or vessel. Five more people are gathered on the far side of the bed. One holds a small bucket out and another holds an open book and a staff. There is discoloration on the paper at the bottom center, and dark lines across and up the middle suggest that the sheet may have been folded at some point.