Bernardo Daddi, 'The Coronation of the Virgin', about 1340.
London, The National Gallery.

Recent Acquisition

'The Coronation of the Virgin'

about 1340

Bernardo Daddi
(about 1300 - 1348)

The National Gallery has acquired 'The Coronation of the Virgin', a rare and beautiful work by Bernardo Daddi.

Believed to have been painted in about 1340 in Florence, 'The Coronation of the Virgin' is a large-scale painting of exceptional quality, and was only firmly attributed to Daddi in 1991. It is the first Daddi to be acquired by the Gallery and joins only a handful of other works by him in the UK.

Daddi was an apprentice in Giotto's workshop, and the relationship with his master is brilliantly demonstrated in this work. The composition is based on the central panel of the 'Baroncelli Polyptych' signed by Giotto and executed probably in the late 1320s.

In this large-scale painting, Daddi has ensured a greater emotional balance between the figures: Christ, sternly upright in Giotto's prototype, now tenderly leans forward at the same angle as the Virgin. The whole surface is also more decorative: a harmonious arrangement of exquisite gold-patterned pinks, whites and greys, contrasts dramatically with the bold celestial blue of Christ's robe.

While never losing sight of the grandeur and vision of his master, Daddi tempered Giotto's style with a refined softness and grace. Daddi was particularly esteemed as a painter of small-scale images. His larger-scale paintings, such as this 'Coronation', are therefore remarkable for the way in which they combine the intimate delicacy of the miniaturist with Giotto's grand style.

In 1958, Richard Offner, then the leading scholar of Trecento painting in Florence, wrote, 'After Giotto, who, among painters, had no peers, Bernardo Daddi was certainly the greatest master in Florence of his day'. Few now would quarrel with that judgment.

This acquisition ensures that 'The Coronation of the Virgin' will remain in the UK along with a small panel by Daddi now in Christ Church College, Oxford. Scientific evidence confirms that the National Gallery and Christ Church paintings were once joined together to form a single panel, made for private devotion.

Tempera on panel, gold ground 117.2 x 65.2 cm

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