East Anglian School Late 15th Century

East Anglian School Late 15th Century
The Assumption of the Virgin
Oil and tempera on coarse linen
134 x 166cm; 52¾ x 65¼in
Unframed

Provenance:
Mallett at Bourdon House, London;
Private Collection;
Rosebery's, Old Master, British & European Pictures, 9 July 2024, lot 1;
Where purchased by the present private collector

Literature:
Denys Sutton, English Medieval Paintings Newly Discovered in Norfolk Apollo, Volume III, 220 (1980), p.464-465

This picture, known as a dorsarium, is one of six such works discovered in East Anglia in 1980. Intended as a wall hanging for a church, such pictures were used as decoration from the 13th century until the end of the 15th century. Three possibilities have been suggested as the place of origin: the private chapel of the Lucas family house at Saxham, near Bury St Edmunds; the church of the Holy Trinity at Long Melford; or perhaps even the Abbey church of St Edmund in Bury St Edmunds. Sutton describes how, 'When Bury Abbey church sustained a great and terrible fire in 1465, every effort would have been made to replace what was destroyed', an era that tallies closely with Sutton's proposed dating of this work.