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This panel was used for private devotion. The representation of the Annunciation with images of Mary and the archangel Gabriel in small roundels suggests that it stood on its own, without flanking panels.
The artist's real interest seems to be in the reactions of the apostles, communicated especially through their gestures. At the end of Mary's time on earth, clouds transported all the apostles from the places where they taught to her bedside. When she died, Jesus appeared to escort her soul to heaven and returned three days later for her body. Here, 11 apostles crowd around Mary's sarcophagus. Each expresses his wonderment at the miraculous appearance of flowers where a body should have been. Apart from the others is Thomas, kneeling on the Mount of Olives. Questioning these events, he prayed to Mary for a further sign, and she handed down the girdle (belt) from her robe. His body, arms flung wide and head thrown back dramatically, conveys the measure of his awe.
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