Coronation of the Virgin
Fra Angelico, 1434
The Coronation of the Virgin by Fra Angelico shows Christ crowning Mary within a small celestial paradise. The scene unfolds against a gold ground, a device inherited from medieval painting, which the artist pairs with a lighter, more luminous sense of space. Rays surrounding Christ and the Virgin, incised through the gold surface, evoke divine light and lend the composition the mystical tone found in other works by the painter. Around them, saints, angels and blessed figures are arranged in tiers: on the left, in the foreground, stands Saint Egidius, patron of the church that originally housed the altarpiece, whose face may have been modelled on Antonino Pierozzi, former prior of San Marco. On the right are female saints, including a kneeling Mary Magdalene, and in the upper rows musician angels. The structure and bright colours suggest the influence of Lorenzo Monaco, Angelico's teacher. The panel stands at the dawn of the Renaissance and clearly marks the transition from Gothic tradition toward a new Florentine sensibility.
- Painter
- Fra Angelico
- Date
- 1434
- Medium
- tempera, poplar panel
- Dimensions
- 112 × 114 cm
- Museum
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- Movement
- Early Renaissance, Italian Renaissance painting
- Genre
- religious art
- Depicts
- Coronation of the Virgin
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