Coronation of the Virgin

Fra Angelico painted Coronation of the Virgin in the 1420s, in Florence, where he was a Dominican friar at the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole. He was about 25 years old and had been painting for roughly a decade, producing the altarpieces and devotional panels that would make him one of the most respected painters of the early Renaissance. The Coronation of the Virgin is one of his earliest surviving works, and it shows the influence of his teacher, Lorenzo Monaco, and of the older Florentine tradition. The painting shows the Coronation of the Virgin, the moment when Christ places a crown on Mary's head in heaven. Christ and Mary are seated on a throne, surrounded by a mandorla of golden light. Christ holds a crown above Mary's head, while she bows her head in acceptance. Below the throne, a crowd of saints and angels looks on, their hands raised in adoration. The background is gold leaf, the traditional background of medieval and early Renaissance altarpieces. Fra Angelico was both a painter and a friar, and his work is characterized by a combination of technical refinement and spiritual purity. He was known in his lifetime as 'the angelic painter,' and he was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1982. His paintings are marked by their bright, clear colors, their careful drawing, and their sense of calm and devotion. The Coronation of the Virgin is an early work, painted before Fra Angelico had fully developed his mature style, but it already shows the qualities that would make him famous. The painting was probably made as an altarpiece for a church or convent. The subject of the Coronation of the Virgin was popular in early Renaissance Florence, where it was painted by Fra Angelico, his teacher Lorenzo Monaco, and his contemporary Gentile da Fabriano. The subject was based on the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, which described Mary's assumption into heaven and her coronation by Christ. Tempera on panel, 96 by 69 centimeters. Fra Angelico painted with a fine, precise touch, building the figures in thin, even layers of tempera. The faces are painted in smooth layers of warm flesh tone, with the features described in fine lines of dark brown. The robes are painted in rich, saturated colors: deep blue for Mary, red and gold for Christ, and lighter blues, pinks, and greens for the saints. The gold background is made of gold leaf, applied to a layer of bole and burnished to a high shine. The surface has the smooth, polished quality of a painting made with great care. The vertical format and rich palette make this print work well in a living room, study, or hallway. The golds, blues, and reds pair with dark wood, white walls, and rooms with a traditional or religious mood. The 16x20 or 18x24 size gives the figures room to read. The painting has a calm, devotional quality that suits rooms with a quiet or spiritual mood. The painting entered the Cleveland Museum of Art with funds from the John L. Severance Fund. This is a CC0 artwork from the Cleveland Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed.