Why it matters
Caravaggio showed the dead Virgin as an ordinary woman, lying with swollen feet among grieving apostles. The fathers of the Carmelite church it was painted for rejected it as unfit; some said Caravaggio had used a prostitute as his model.
Did you know?
- Rubens praised it as one of Caravaggio's best works and recommended it to the Duke of Mantua.
- It was exhibited for one week in Rome in April 1607, and copying was forbidden.
- Charles I of England and then Louis XIV owned it.
Based on the Wikipedia article Death of the Virgin (Caravaggio) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
