1.  Mary is reclining in her last sickness, and around her are the Apostles, who, according to the beautiful legend, were miraculously assembled to witness her departure.  To express this, one of them is floating in as if borne on the air.  St. John kneels at her feet, and she takes, with an expression exquisitely tender and maternal, his two hands in hers.  This action is peculiar to the Siena school.[1]

[Footnote 1:  On each side of the principal door of the Cathedral at Siena, which is dedicated to “Beata Virgine Assunta,” and just within the entrance, is a magnificent pilaster, of white marble, completely covered from the base to the capital with the most luxuriant carving, arabesques, foliage, &c., in an admirable and finished style.  On the bases of these two pilasters are subjects from the Life of the Virgin, three on each side, and arranged, each subject on one side having its pendant on the other.

1.  The meeting of Joachim and Anna. 2.  The Nativity of Mary. 3.  Her sickness and last farewell to the Apostles; bending towards St. John, she takes his hands in hers with the same tender expression as in the fresco by Taddeo Bartola. 4.  She lies dead on her couch. 5.  The Assumption. 6.  The Coronation.

The figures are about a foot in height, delicately carved, full of that sentiment which is especially Sienese, and treated with a truly sculptural simplicity.]

2.  She lies extended on her couch, surrounded by the weeping Apostles, and Christ behind receives the parting soul,—­the usual representation, but treated with the utmost sentiment.

3.  She is borne to the grave by the Apostles; in the background, the walls of the city of Jerusalem.  Here the Greek legend of St. Michael protecting her remains from the sacrilegious Jew is omitted, and a peculiar sentiment of solemnity pervades the whole scene.

4.  The resurrection of the Virgin, when she rises from the tomb sustained by hovering angels, and is received by Christ.

When I first saw these beautiful frescoes, in 1847, they were in a very ruined state; they have since been restored in a very good style, and with a reverent attention to the details and expression.

In general, however, the cycle commences either with the legend of Joachim and Anna, or with the Nativity of the Virgin, and ends with the assumption and coronation.  A most interesting early example is the series painted in fresco by Taddeo Gaddi, in the Baroncelli Chapel at Florence.  The subjects are arranged on two walls.  The first on the right hand, and the second, opposite to us as we enter.

1.  Joachim is rejected from the Temple.

2.  He is consoled by the Angel.

3.  The meeting of Joachim and Anna.

4.  The Birth of the Virgin.

5.  The Presentation of the Virgin.  She is here a child of about five years old; and having ascended five steps (of the fifteen) she turns as if to bid farewell to her parents and companions, who stand below; while on the summit the High Priest, Anna the prophetess, and the maidens of the Temple come forward to receive her.