Ascensión de la Virgen

The image of the Assumption of the Virgin does not derive from the Bible but from apocryphal literature from the 3rd and 4th centuries, and ecclesiastical tradition that took shape in the Middle Ages. By the 16th century, it had become a popular theme. In 1950, Pope Pius XII solemnly proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. This is a universal belief of the Church from the first centuries to the present day. The essential element of this dogma teaches that the Virgin Mary, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

John Damascene, the 7th Century monk and priest, later declared Doctor of the Church, in his second homily on the Dormition of the Virgin, uses biblical typology to present a whole series of reasons why it was fitting that Mary's body was not consumed by decay in the tomb.

"It was necessary that the body of the one who preserved her virginity intact in giving birth should also be kept incorrupt after death. It was necessary that she, who carried the Creator in her womb when He was a baby, should dwell among the tabernacles of Heaven. . . .”

The composition is based on Peter Paul Ruben’s drawing of 1613-14, made together with other eleven, to illustrate the Breviarum Romanum, a Catholic book of prayers. Rubens returned to this composition on many occasions, mostly in paintings, the most well-known being the altarpiece for the high altar of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.

Artistic production in the Americas often found sources in European engravings produced in the workshops of master painters. This is the case with an engraving produced by Theodoor Galle (1571-1633) after Ruben’s drawing.

The composition includes two simultaneous scenes: at the bottom, Saint Thomas and the Apostles visit the tomb and look astonished to find her sarcophagus empty. Then Saint Thomas appears again, standing at the left of the composition, his arms raised in awe, looking up at the Virgin who floats heavenwards in a cloud of angels, where she is to be crowned.