Some versions show the Virgin dropping her belt, the
Girdle of Thomas, to
Thomas the Apostle (best known for his
Doubting Thomas episode) as she rises; this was to give him tangible proof of what he had seen, given his earlier scepticism. The "girdle" was a major
relic of the Middles Ages, naturally existing in several versions. In a miniature by the
Master of James IV of Scotland (1510s), an angel passes it down to Thomas. This also has the unusual scene of the funeral procession with the Apostles. Rubens introduced two women, perhaps meant to be
Martha and Mary, kneeling by the
sarcophagus or bending over it. Having apparently unwrapped the shroud, they are usually holding it and collecting the roses found within. This motif was often included by later Flemish artists. , 1505,
Assumption with Saints Anthony Abbot and Louis of Toulouse, a
sacra conversatione treatment. Although the final age of Mary is not given in the
New Testament, from the Gospel evidence she was at least in her forties, and the
Golden Legend gives her age at death as sixty or seventy-two. In paintings of the
Crucifixion of Jesus and the following events, she is normally depicted as a fairly old woman. But most
Assumptions give her a youthful or mature appearance, with exceptions like the
Panciatichi Assumption by
Andrea del Sarto, of c. 1522–23. By contrast the apostles are very often depicted as old men, with the youngest, Saint
John, merely in his prime. From the later 16th century some images show a more intimate depiction in the
in aria type of
sacra conversatione, with a few selected saints replacing the crowd of apostles, and often the Virgin hovering not much above them. The alternative Catholic scene from the end of the Virgin Mary's early life is the
Death of the Virgin, which was more compatible with the
Dormition of the Theotokos in
Eastern Orthodox art and theology. Most treatments showed her lying in bed, surrounded by the
Twelve Apostles, again reflecting the
Golden Legend. Some painters show both scenes, one above the other. Catholic doctrine, still emerging when most of these were painted, has declined to specify whether Mary had died before her bodily Assumption, although the slightly varying accounts given one after the other in late versions of the
Golden Legend agree that she did, and was placed in a tomb, from which she was raised up three days later. ,
Correggio, 1526–1530 The Assumption was a suitable subject for
illusionistic ceiling paintings, and
first so used at Parma Cathedral by
Antonio da Correggio in 1526–1530. The first Baroque ceiling was by
Giovanni Lanfranco in 1625–1627 at
San Andrea della Valle in Rome. ==Selected works==