This is the central panel of a large altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence. Christ crowns the Virgin, after her body and soul have been taken up to heaven. This was an important moment: it established the Virgin’s role as an intercessor to whom believers could address their prayers. It is not recorded in the Bible but is described in the Golden Legend, a medieval compilation of saints' biographies.
The event’s glory and majesty are reflected here in the rich decoration of Christ and the Virgin’s white robes, with golden embroidery showing birds, hearts and flowers. Angels, dressed in colourful robes, play beautifully detailed musical instruments, encouraging viewers to imagine heavenly music accompanying the scene.
The Virgin’s coronation was a popular scene in Florence where artists based their composition upon Giotto’s altarpiece made for the Baroncelli chapel at Santa Croce around 1334.
This is the central panel of the main tier of a large altarpiece with four rows of images, made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, one of the oldest and most respected churches in Florence. This panel was flanked by two others showing rows of adoring saints. Above was an upper tier showing images of the birth, resurrection and ascension of Christ, topped by three pinnacle panels with the Trinity at the centre. There was a predella below, painted with scenes from the the life of Saint Peter, now dispersed in different collections.
The scene shows Christ and the Virgin Mary seated on an elaborate marble throne lined with a blue and gold cloth, known as a cloth of honour. At either side an angel with a flame, representing the Holy Ghost, looks on. The blue backdrop sets off their splendid white robes, decorated with golden birds and flowers which would have gleamed when lit by candles. Christ places a star-topped crown upon the Virgin’s head. She bows her head, crossing her arms in front of her in a gesture of humility. Her delicate profile is made up of just a few simple strokes. The painter has drawn attention to her eyes, which look down, defining the edges of the lids with one definitive stroke.
The coronation of the Virgin took place according the Golden Legend, the thirteenth-century compilation of the lives of the saints, after her miraculous assumption to heaven. This was an important event: the Virgin became a part of the heavenly realm, with the saints, and could be called upon in prayer to intercede for the faithful. It was a popular scene in Florence and this image, like many others made there, drew upon the version painted by Giotto for the Baroncelli chapel around 1334.
Angels playing musical instruments have gathered around the base of the throne, and their symmetrical arrangement frames the coronation. The decorative details of their costumes and instruments add pattern and richness to the scene. The instruments, for example the tiny guitar-like gittern and the larger fiddle, are painted with decorations that resemble marquetry, a technique that uses different coloured woods to make patterns. This angelic orchestra might inspire the viewer to imagine that the scene is accompanied by heavenly music, adding to the sensory experience created by the painting’s colours and textures.
Artist | Jacopo di Cione and workshop |
---|---|
Artist dates | documented 1365; died 1398 -1400 |
Full title | The Coronation of the Virgin: Central Main Tier Panel |
Series | The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece |
Date made | 1370-1 |
Medium and support | Egg tempera on wood |
Dimensions | 206.5 x 113.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1857 |
Inventory number | NG569.1 |
Location in Gallery | Room 60 |
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The San Pier Maggiore Altarpiece
These images come from a large, four-tiered altarpiece created for the high altar of the choir of the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence. It was made up of a number of separate panels, most of which are now in the National Gallery’s collection.
Although only the facade of the church remains today, it was one of the oldest and most important religious institutions in Florence when this altarpiece was made. It was founded by the first bishop of Florence, Saint Zenobius, in the fifth century. The picture formed the backdrop to one of the ceremonies relating to the ordination of each bishop of Florence until the late sixteenth century.
The altarpiece was most probably commissioned by the wealthy Florentine Albizzi family and many of its saints relate to their family or their trade as wool merchants. The central images showed the coronation of the Virgin by Christ surrounded by adoring saints – a highly popular image in Florence.
This was one of the largest and most expensive altarpieces made in fourteenth-century Florence, for the Benedictine convent church of San Pier Maggiore, one Florence’s most important and oldest churches.
The central panel shows the coronation of the Virgin by Christ, which occurred, according to legend, after her body and soul were taken up into heaven. The scene is framed by panels on the left and right which show rows of saints looking on. Above this main tier was another level of pictures, showing scenes from Christ’s life and after his death: the Nativity and Adoration of the Kings, the Resurrection and events after it, Christ’s ascension to heavenand Pentecost. Three pinnacles topped the whole construction, the central one showing the Trinity flanked on the left and right by panels showing adoring angels. The predella depicted scenes from the life of the church’s patron saint, Peter, and there were probably also two supporting pilasters on either side of the entire construction, decorated with images of saints.
An important and wealthy Florentine family, the Albizzi, commissioned the altarpiece; it is likely that various members contributed towards the cost of its production. Many of the saints depicted in the altarpiece relate to the Albizzi family while others have significance for the church.
San Pier Maggiore was founded by one of Florence’s patron saints, its first bishop, Saint Zenobius, in the fifth century, and became a Benedictine convent in the eleventh century. At the end of the fourteenth century it was rebuilt, with work completed at around the same time that this altarpiece was installed over the high altar of the choir. The altarpiece played an important part in the ecclesiastical life of the city: new bishops of Florence would process to the church on the way back from their ordination at the cathedral, and it served as the backdrop to a ceremony in which the bishop would become symbolically married to the church. The ritual was sealed when the bishop offered a ring to the convent’s abbess. This recognition and privilege were apt given that the church’s founder was the city’s first bishop.
The painting has been attributed to Jacopo di Cione on the basis of its style. Infrared reflectography has revealed that at least two artists were involved in the initial drawings for the painting – such a large scale painting was likely to be a collaborative project. Surviving documents refer to a ‘designer’: ‘Niccolaio’. His identity is unknown but he could be Niccolò di Pietro di Gerini who collaborated with Jacopo di Cione on other projects, or Niccolò di Tommaso. Considering how much he was paid for the work this designer might have provided a compositional drawing as well as have designed the construction of the woodwork. The documents also mention a decorative painted curtain made to cover the painting.
The majority of the panels which made up the main section of the altarpiece are in the National Gallery, while paintings from the predella and pilasters have been identified in other collections.