The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio: A Rejected Altarpiece

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An altarpiece the church refused

Caravaggio painted The Death of the Virgin around 1601 to 1606 for the Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Scala in Rome. The friars rejected it. Critics objected to the realism of Mary’s body, swollen and barefoot, and to rumours about the model.

The painting was bought by the Duke of Mantua on the advice of Rubens. It later entered the French royal collection and is now in the Louvre.

Mary laid out in red

Mary lying on a bier in a red dress — Mary laid out in red.

Mary lies on a simple bier in a red dress, her head fallen to one side, her feet bare. There is no halo of glory, only a thin ring of light. Caravaggio showed a real human death.

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Mary Magdalene weeping

Mary Magdalene bent over with face in hands — Mary Magdalene weeping.

In the foreground, Mary Magdalene sits on a low chair, bent over, her face buried in her hands.

Apostles in grief

Apostles with bowed heads — Apostles in grief.

The apostles crowd around, heads bowed, some weeping, some covering their faces. Their plain clothes and bald heads make them look like ordinary people of Caravaggio’s Rome.

A huge red curtain hangs above them, filling the upper part of the canvas like the set of a stage.

Questions about The Death of the Virgin

Why was it rejected?

The church found the realistic treatment of Mary’s body unacceptable.

Where is it?

Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Who advised its purchase?

Peter Paul Rubens, for the Duke of Mantua.

How large is it?

About 369 × 245 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Sources and image credit

Public-domain reproduction of The Death of the Virgin, via Wikimedia Commons. Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.