The Coronation of the Virgin
Coronation of the Virgin — Fra Angelico, Louvre, c.1430-1435
Fra Angelico, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Fra Angelico's Coronation of the Virgin in the Louvre is a large altarpiece showing the moment of Mary's coronation by her son Christ in heaven — a subject that Fra Angelico returned to several times (another version is in the Uffizi, Florence). Christ and the Virgin sit on a raised throne surrounded by the apostles, martyrs, and holy women in a heavenly garden.
The figures' faces are characteristically Angelicesque — gentle, absorbed in spiritual attention, slightly melancholy in their joy — and the colours are the most luminous in the Louvre's medieval collection: the deep lapis-lazuli blues, the vermilion reds, the gold of the throne against which the figures are arranged. The predella below carries seven scenes from the life of the patron saint — probably executed by workshop members under Angelico's direction.
The Louvre Coronation was painted for the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole, near Florence, for which Fra Angelico also painted the earlier, smaller Coronation (now in the Uffizi). The Louvre version is larger and more elaborate: the circle of saints around the throne is more differentiated, the garden setting more specific, and the predella more complete.
Fra Angelico's use of gold ground is here combined with a spatial suggestion in the throne's architecture — the steps recede, the canopy has depth — that places the work in the transitional zone between the late medieval gold-ground tradition and the emerging Renaissance spatial convention. The result is simultaneously hieratic and spatially present.
The arrangement of saints around the central throne is Angelico's greatest accomplishment in this composition: each face is individuated, each posture slightly different, yet the whole ring has a harmony and balance that reads as a single choir of witnesses to the divine event. Look at the quality of the flowers in the garden setting — Fra Angelico was a careful botanical observer — and at the angels playing instruments in the foreground.
The Christ and Virgin figures at the centre are the most formal: seated, frontal, precisely depicted in their hierarchical roles. The coronation crown is the composition's visual apex; the gesture of placing it is measured and deliberate.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Coronation of the Virgin — Fra Angelico, Louvre, c.1430-1435. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The ring of saints — individuated faces. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The predella panels below. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The throne and crown — the celestial hierarchy. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
Musée du Louvre, Room 4, Denon Wing. One of the highlights of the Italian Primitives collection.