The Coronation of the Virgin

Master of the Washington Coronation

National Gallery of Art

Against a gold background, a man places a crown onto a woman’s head as they sit side-by-side on a wide throne surrounded by winged angels in this vertical painting. The arched area over the throne comes to a point, and is carved with leaves around the arch. The three-dimensional leaves are painted gold against the ocean-blue background. All the people and angels have pale skin with a greenish cast, though their cheeks are blush pink. They all have dark eyes, long, straight noses, and their small red mouths are closed. They all have long, wavy, blond hair except for the woman, Mary, whose head is covered. The flat gold halos around every person and angels’ heads are punched with clusters of three dots. The man, Jesus, sits to our right on the throne and looks toward Mary as he places a crown on her bowed head with one hand. He holds a long staff in his other hand, which rests in his lap. His hair falls around his shoulders, and he wears a gold-trimmed, buttercup-yellow robe under a lapis-blue cloak that wraps over one shoulder and across his lap. The woman looks at us while holding both hands up to gesture toward Jesus. She wears a rose-pink dress under a blue mantle, which drapes over her head, shoulders, and arms. Her mantle and Jesus’s robe are painted with gold lines to indicate folds. One shoe peeks out from under Mary’s hem, and Jesus’s feet are bare. They both sit on an olive-green cushion on the gold throne. The eight angels are spaced over the throne, and are smaller in scale, about half the size of Mary and Jesus. Each looks across toward the others, and they wear robes of rose pink, lapis blue, or forest green. The round neckline of each has a wide gold band, and many hold long staffs. Two angels hold up a ruby-red cloth behind Mary and Jesus, and the back of the throne curves in a half moon above the cloth. The half moon has a shell design at the center and is painted with gold stars against a cobalt-blue background along the top, curving edge. The roman numerals “CCCXXIIII” are painted on the base of the throne, near Jesus’s feet.