Polyptych of Assumption

Moretto da Brescia's Polyptych of the Assumption is a multi-panel altarpiece organized around the central mystery of the Virgin's bodily assumption into heaven. Polyptychs — multi-panel altarpieces with a central image flanked by subsidiary saints — were becoming archaic in the sixteenth century, gradually replaced by the unified altarpiece format, but certain church patrons and liturgical traditions maintained the older format. Moretto's polyptych demonstrates his ability to work within traditional formal constraints, adapting the older multi-panel structure to his naturalistic figure style and his characteristic approach to the relationship between central and flanking figures.

The polyptych structure divides the Assumption narrative across multiple panels, each painted with Moretto's characteristic silvery tonality and restrained, devotional approach to sacred figures.