The Assumption Of The Virgin Painting By Rubens Exhibited At The Queen`s Gallery In London England Editorial Image

This panel shows a naturally lit evening scene with an azure heaven. Blue is the keynote colour here, suggestive of a luminous sky and symbolic of heaven. The Virgin here wears white to symbolise purity; she is usually shown wearing a blue cloak alluding to her status as Queen of Heaven. It is this symbolic blue that has somehow permeated every centimetre of this panel. choir of angels lifts her in a spiraling motion toward a burst of divine light. Around her tomb are gathered the 12 apostles — some with their arms raised in awe; others reaching to touch her discarded shroud. The women in the painting are thought to be Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary`s two sisters. A kneeling woman holds a flower, referring to the lilies that miraculously filled the empty coffin.