CHARLES MELLIN (NANCY CA. 1597-1647/1649 ROME)
The burial of the Virgin and the punishment of Jephonias
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, brown ink framing lines
18.5 x 23.3 cm

PROVENANCE:
Michael Bryan (1757-1821), London
by descent to the present owner

LITERATURE:
P. Malgouyres, ‘Charles Mellin dessinateur’, in Dessins francais du XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Actes du colloque de l’École du Louvre, Paris, 2003, pp. 134-137, ill. fig. 5.

EXHIBITED:
Nancy, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Charles Mellin. Un Lorrain entre Rome et Naples, 2007, no. D66, ill. (catalogue by P. Malgouyres).

The drawing shows the funeral procession of Mary, led by Peter with the apostles surrounding the bier and Paul at the rear. In contrast to the peaceful head of the procession, an assailing mob at the rear are repelled and blinded by the dazzling flaming swords wielded by defending angels. The hands of a would-be assailant, the Jewish priest Jephonias, are severed as he attempts to attack the bier.

The episode became known in western Europe in the Middle Ages mainly through Jacobus de Voragine’s The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints, where he provided a full account of the dormition of Mary.