UNKNOWN MASTER, French
(active in 1540s at Solesmes)

Dormition of the Virgin

1540s
Marble
Abbey Saint-Pierre, Solesmes

The Abbey Saint-Pierre de Solesmes (Sarthe) is a French Benedictine monastery in Solesmes founded in 1010. The Dormition group is in the Belle Chapelle of the north transept of the abbey; it faces an Entombment group in the southern transept.

There is no base, the figures stand on the same level as the viewer. The intended effect of visceral immediacy is well served by the demonstrative gestures, but it is compromised somewhat by the excessively detailed drapery folds.