Gino Parin (1876-1944)
The Assumption
Oil on canvas
ca. 1930-1933
Collection of Necki Springer, Cottonwood, Arizona
Photograph courtesy of David Shaffer
Parin painted several canvases featuring stories from the life of the Virgin Mary. In 1912, a year after he finished his monumental altarpiece, The Madonna of Trieste (Stella Maris), he produced an Annunciation, depicting the moment when Mary learns from the angel Gabriel that she will be carrying the son of God. It was displayed in the Michelazzi Gallery in Trieste in December of 1913 as part of their Christmas exhibition.
About twenty years later, Parin created the preparatory sketch for an Assumption altarpiece that is now in the Springer collection. The artist shows the Virgin between earth and heaven, with her eyes gazing upward and her arms outstretched in prayer as clouds and light swirl around her. This effectively captures the moment when Mary’s body and soul were taken (“assumed”) to heaven.
Parin included hidden images in his sketch, although the current state of the painting’s preservation makes them difficult to see.
Look carefully at the clouds: you may find a face, not unlike the images that the artist hid in his Cottonwood Cristo painting.