Full title | The Coronation of the Virgin |
---|---|
Artist | Master of Cappenberg (Jan Baegert?) |
Artist dates | active about 1500 - about 1525 |
Series | The Liesborn Altarpiece |
Date made | about 1520 |
Medium and support | Oil on oak |
Dimensions | 97.2 x 70.5 cm |
Acquisition credit | Bought, 1854 |
Inventory number | NG263 |
Location | Room 62 |
Art route(s) | A |
Collection | Main Collection |
This is one of two panels in the National Gallery’s collection that probably once decorated the outer faces of the shutters of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. Here, the Virgin Mary kneels between Christ to the left and God the Father, who place a crown on her head. The Holy Ghost in the form of a dove hovers above her. According to the Golden Legend, a thirteenth-century compilation of the lives of the saints, Mary’s coronation occurred after her glorious ascension to heaven.
This scene, which shows three holy figures and is set in heaven, is one of the most splendid of the whole altarpiece. Each figure has a large gilded halo as well as an elaborate crown. The artist has incised parallel lines into the gold leaf of the crowns to indicate areas of shadow (see, for example, the inner rim of the Virgin’s crown).
This painting shows the coronation of the Virgin in heaven by Christ. This is one of two panels in our collection that were probably once part of the shutters of an altarpiece made for the high altar of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn. The shutters flanked the main panel, which was painted by an artist known as the Master of the Liesborn, but were added about 40 years after it was completed.
Both sides of the enormous shutters were painted. This panel was probably part of the shutters' outer faces, along with Christ before Pilate. Each outer face included four scenes, which, with the exception of this image and the Pentecost, showed episodes from the Passion of Christ. It is thought that the inner faces were each painted with one very large image, but both are now lost. After the altarpiece was removed and dismantled in the eighteenth century, the inner and outer faces were separated, and the individual episodes on the outer faces were cut into individual panels. There are two in our collection and six in the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Münster.
The artist has framed the image with a fictive stone arch with slim pilasters, similar to that used by the Master of Liesborn in the Annunciation scene. She kneels between Christ to the left and God the Father, who place a crown on her head. The Holy Ghost in the form of a dove hovers above her. This event is featured not in the Gospels but the Golden Legend, a thirteenth-century compilation of the lives of the saints, which records it as occurring after Mary’s glorious ascension to heaven.
This is one of the most splendid images of the whole altarpiece. Each holy figure has a large gilded halo as well as an elaborate crown, and the artist has incised parallel lines into the gold leaf of the crowns to indicate areas of shadow (see, for example, the inner rim of the Virgin’s). In the background two angels play musical instruments – a lute and a flute – while two more hold up the rich red textile which forms the back to the throne. The symmetry of the composition creates a sense of harmony suitable for the final scene in the life of the Virgin. The inclusion of this moment among a group of images devoted mainly to the life of Christ is appropriate given that the altarpiece was dedicated to the Virgin, among other saints.
Download a low-resolution copy of this image for personal use.
License and download a high-resolution image for reproductions up to A3 size from the National Gallery Picture Library.
License imageThis image is licensed for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons agreement.
Examples of non-commercial use are:
- Research, private study, or for internal circulation within an educational organisation (such as a school, college or university)
- Non-profit publications, personal websites, blogs, and social media
The image file is 800 pixels on the longest side.
As a charity, we depend upon the generosity of individuals to ensure the collection continues to engage and inspire. Help keep us free by making a donation today.
You must agree to the Creative Commons terms and conditions to download this image.
The Coronation of the Virgin
The Liesborn Altarpiece
These images once formed part of a large altarpiece made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion, flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy.
In 1517 two shutters painted by the Master of Cappenberg were added to either side of the Master of Liesborn’s original panel. These showed the events leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, his resurrection and events that occurred afterwards, such as the Pentecost.
The altarpiece was removed in the eighteenth century and later cut up; only fragments survive. Six images from the main panel are in the National Gallery’s collection: three fragments of the central Crucifixion, two complete flanking images (The Annunciation and The Presentation in the Temple) and a fragment of The Adoration of the Kings, another flanking scene. Two further images come from the shutters.
These paintings are fragments from an altarpiece – one of the largest of its time – made for the high altar of the monastery church of the Benedictine abbey at Liesborn, in Westphalia in north-west Germany. The high altar was consecrated in 1465 by Abbott Heinrich von Kleve and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saints Cosmas, Damian and Simeon, all of whom feature on the altarpiece.
The main panel consisted of a central scene of the Crucifixion flanked on either side by two smaller individual scenes from Christ’s infancy, one on top of the other. In 1517, about 40 years after the main panel was completed, two shutters were commissioned from a different artist, the Master of Cappenberg. These were painted on both sides, and depicted the events leading up to Christ’s death, his resurrection and events that took place afterwards. They were attached to the outer edges of either side of the main panel.
The altarpiece was removed and replaced with another painting in 1704. We do not know exactly when it was cut up into separate pieces but it may have been in the eighteenth century. Many of these fragments entered the National Gallery’s collection after they were acquired from the Kruger Collection in 1854. However, pictures from that collection were resold in 1857, enabled by a special Act of Parliament, and a large number are now in the Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History, Münster (not far from Liesborn); there are some in other collections too. Those retained by the National Gallery include three fragments of The Crucifixion: the head of Christ and two fragments of the figures standing at the base of the Cross, Saint John the Evangelist with Saints Scholastica and Benedict and Saints Cosmas and Damian with the Virgin. Four fragments now in Münster show angels gathering Christ’s blood in chalices – they would have been shown hovering beneath the wounds in his hands where he was nailed to the Cross.
Two of the scenes that surrounded the Crucifixion are also in the National Gallery’s collection: The Annunciation (which was at the top left) and The Presentation in the Temple (the lower of the two right-hand scenes). The other small fragment in our collection shows two of the kings kneeling to worship the infant Christ, who lies in his mother’s lap. This is the central part of The Adoration of the Kings, originally situated at the top right – other fragments from this scene are in Münster. This configuration of central image flanked by lateral scenes painted on the same panel was fairly common in Westphalian altarpieces of this date.
Two scenes from the shutters are also in the National Gallery’s collection: Christ before Pilate and The Coronation of the Virgin. Six scenes from these wings are in Münster (one of the six is on loan from a private collection).






