Johann Rottenhammer, The Coronation of the Virgin

This glorious and colourful scene is painted on a copper panel that is about three feet high. Most of the paintings on copper in the National Gallery’s collection are much smaller, but by the time this one was made, more sophisticated methods of manufacture meant that some were large enough to be used as altarpieces in churches. The scene is set in heaven, and Rottenhammer has managed to convey its vast scale even in this limited space: rows of angels, saints and prophets fill every inch of the painting, and the more distant figures are painted very faintly to create a feeling of expansiveness.

At the top, surrounded by a blaze of celestial light, the Virgin is crowned Queen of Heaven by Christ and God the Father. Just below, Adam and Eve appear among other important figures from the Bible’s Old Testament. On the left are Abraham and his son Isaac; the king and prophet David, his lyre by his side, is shown turning inwards to watch the coronation. On the right is Jonah with the whale that swallowed him and, in green, Moses with the stone tablets that were inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

Sharing the honour of this upper echelon are the apostles Saint Peter, on the left with the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and Saint Paul, on the far right. The lowest rung is populated with saints and important clerics of the Catholic Church. Those most prominent are Saint Jerome with his lion and Saint Lawrence holding a martyr’s palm, his white robes dazzling in the heavenly light.

Rottenhammer probably began this picture in about 1595 or 1596, just before he moved from Rome (where he had been since 1591) to Venice. Karel van Mander, a biographer of artists, wrote that it was the first picture to bring the artist fame. He painted it to impress his patron Camillo Borghese, who became a cardinal in 1596 and in 1605 was elected to the papacy, choosing the name Paul V. Rottenhammer was probably introduced to this prestigious patron by the Flemish artist Paul Bril, who spent most of his career in Rome.

Rottenhammer brought all of the lessons he had learned in Italy to this important commission, including the ability to paint figures in complex poses as well as sumptuous and gorgeously coloured fabrics, inspired by the art of Venice. While he was there he copied the works of famous artists, including Tintoretto, and he may have drawn inspiration for this work from Veronese’s Coronation of the Virgin for the church of the Ognissanti (now in the Accademia, Venice). He may also have worked in Veronese’s workshop, which continued after the master’s death.

The preparatory drawing for this work survives in the Uffizi, Florence. Smaller than the copper panel which is the support of the National Gallery painting, it is covered with a square grid, which Rottenhammer used as a guide to help scale up the design. There are certain changes between the drawing and the panel. For example, the bishop saints Ambrose and Augustine, shown wearing mitres (bishops' hats), appear on either side of the drawing, but in the painting they are both on the left. The bald, bearded figure of Camillo Borghese, who gazes out at the viewer, has been inserted into the painting in the position occupied by Augustine in the drawing.