Coronation of the Virgin
Coronation of the Virgin — Fra Angelico, c.1432
Fra Angelico, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Fra Angelico's Coronation of the Virgin in the Uffizi (sometimes called the 'San Marco Altarpiece' or the 'Fiesole Coronation') is a large-format altarpiece (approximately 213 by 211 cm) made for the church of San Domenico in Fiesole around 1432 — the period of Fra Angelico's mature early style, before the San Marco frescoes. The central panel shows Christ crowning the Virgin in heaven, surrounded by a circle of angelic musicians playing instruments, while below on earth, at a marble step, six saints witness the Coronation from a lower perspective. The gold ground and the stylised elongated figures maintain the late Gothic tradition; the spatial construction of the lower zone (with its marble floor in perspective) and the variety of the individual angel portraits show Fra Angelico's absorption of the Florentine Renaissance innovations of Brunelleschi and Masaccio.
Fra Angelico (Guido di Pietro, c.1395-1455) was a Dominican friar and the most important religious painter of the Florentine early Renaissance. His work combines the formal conventions of the Gothic tradition (gold grounds, hierarchic scale, stylised drapery) with the new Florentine perspective and naturalism of Masaccio and Brunelleschi.
Unlike Masaccio, who stripped religious painting of decorative tradition, Fra Angelico maintained gold and decorative elaboration as theological statements — the gold ground of heaven is not a formal convention but a theological representation of the eternal light of God. This altarpiece represents his synthesis at its most complete.
The angelic musicians in the upper zone of the Coronation are among the most joyful figures in Italian Renaissance painting — each angel has an individual expression of absorbed musical pleasure; each plays a specific instrument (lutes, viols, organs, harps, trumpets) depicted with the specificity of a musician's observation. The saints in the lower zone include Thomas Aquinas (Dominican, with book and lily), Peter Martyr (Dominican, with knife in his head — the instrument of his martyrdom), and John the Baptist. The perspective floor creates depth in the lower zone that contrasts with the timeless gold of the heavenly space above.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Coronation of the Virgin — Fra Angelico, c.1432. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Angelic musicians — joyful individual expression. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The saints witnessing from below — marble floor in perspective. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Christ crowning the Virgin — the central group. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
Uffizi Gallery, Room 5 (Fra Angelico and early Renaissance), Florence.