Inside the basilica of Sant'Alessandro in Colonna in Bergamo, there is an oil on canvas painting, almost five metres high, by Girolamo Romanino, created between 1540 and 1545. The Assumption of the Virgin.
The canvas is divided, as is often the case with frescoes by the Brescian painter, into two levels. The upper part depicts the Madonna enveloped in clouds and surrounded by cherubs that accompany her towards the image of God represented in the act of crowning her.
The lower part depicts the disciples. Some disbelieving people confabulate and observe the empty tomb, others are in adoration of the divine sign.
Creating a link between the two levels is the use of colours, with the Madonna's blue cloak creating an ideal connection with the silver cloak of the disciple in the foreground who turns his gaze to her. The background, a landscape of autumnal colours painted as if following a thunderstorm, contrasts with the scene depicted.
In this canvas, as in all Romanino's work, the distance between the artist and the Renaissance classicism typical of the painters of this era is clear.
