The Death of Mary

Description

The museum has two tall rectangular windows from the lepers' and pilgrims' church of Notre Dame in Bourguillon near Fribourg, one depicting The Crucifixion and this one The Death of Mary or 'Dormition'. Like its counterpart, the scene is framed by a Gothic canopy. In the lower half of the picture the twelve Apostles surround the Virgins death bed in sorrow and devotion; in the upper zone Christ, hovering encircled by a nimbus of angels, receives the soul of Mary in the form of a child. Stylistic links to panel paintings and prints from the Upper Rhine, the sculptural conception of the figures, the expressive heads and the style of the drapery indicating the influence of Konrad Witz's workshop in Basle - these elements suggest the attribution to Michel Glaser, a glass painter from Basle whose presence in Fribourg is documented.