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Coronation of the Virgin
Fra Angelico (Italian, 1400–1455)
1420s
- Medium
- tempera and gold on wood panel
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 45.5 x 51.5 x 8.5 cm (17 15/16 x 20 1/4 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 27 x 37.2 cm (10 5/8 x 14 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- Italy, Florence
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Medieval Art
- Credit line
- The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This picture’s original use is uncertain. Its size and shape are appropriate for a predella (the pedestal portion of an altarpiece), which often consists of several small panels. However, the Coronation of the Virgin almost never appears on predellas. The panel’s minute detail and rich finish suggest it may have been an object for private devotion. This is believed to be an early work by Fra Angelico, whose real name was Guido di Pietro, a Dominican monk in Florence. Here, an angel holds the Virgin’s train while she kneels to receive the crown offered by Christ. The scene glimmers with gold; the thrones are draped with starry tapestries, the walls are hung with gold cloth, and Christ himself radiates light.
