[The Assumption of Virgin Mary].

Drawing, black stone and pencil, grey ink wash, silverpoint, 48,5 x 38 cm (middle horiz. fold line, some tiny spots, tear in the upper side, ms. mention of a price at bottom).

Presumably a preparatory drawing for a print (book frontispiece?). The Virgin is seated on a cloud with angels, the apostles kneeling or standing below. Decorated frame with upper/lower blind cartouches and coat-of-arms on upper corners (left for a cardinal, right for the king of France). Philippe de Champaigne (Brussels 1602-1674 Paris) was a Baroque painter and a founding member of the "Académie de peinture et de sculpture" in Paris, the first fine arts institution in France in the 18th c. From 1640 onwards, he came under the influence of Jansenism. Prov. [Georges Petit].