Coronation of the Virgin (Lorenzo Monaco)

The Coronation of the Virgin

Artist	Lorenzo Monaco
Year	1414
Type	Tempera on panel
Dimensions	506 cm × 447.5 cm (199 in × 176.2 in)
Location	Uffizi Gallery, Florence

The Coronation of the Virgin is a tempera on panel polyptych by the Italian late Gothic artist Lorenzo Monaco, centred on the subject of the Coronation of the Virgin. Once in the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, it is now housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It is dated February 1413 which, in the Florentine calendary (which began in March), corresponded to 1414.

History

The painting is mentioned in the early 15th century by Antonio Billi.

In the late 16th century, it was replaced in the altar it occupied by a large canvas by Alessandro Allori. The Coronation was found back in the 19th century, when it was housed in the Camaldolese abbey of San Pietro a Cerreto, in poor conditions; it was therefore restored from 1872 in the frame and, for what concerns the painted part, in 1990, showing back the precious and (for the time) expensive use of lapis lazuli blue.

Description

The work is framed within a huge gilted and carved frame, with three cusps covered placed on jutting corbels. The three arches are decorated with vegetable motifs; over them are three panels (whose upper frame is lost), containing the paintings, from the left, of the Angel of the Annunciation, the Blessing Christ between Cherubims and the Annunciation. At the side are two piers with twisting columns on the edges, where are paintings of prophets. In the lower part is the predella, with six small paintings of the Episodes of the Lives of St. Benedict and St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

The central painting within the three arcades shows the Coronation of the Virgin set in the Paradise (alluded by the blue starred belts), with two rows of saints at the sides and a large number of angels behind the throne of Jesus and the Madonna.

The composition is crowded but, like other Giottoesque paintings, lacking any perspective. The gilded background is typical of Lorenzo's style.