The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Coronation of the Virgin

Coronation of the Virgin

1420s
(Italian, 1400–1455)
Italy, Florence, 15th century
tempera and gold on wood panel
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.)
The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection 1944.79
Location: 117B Italian Renaissance

Did You Know?

Since its acquisition in 1944 the authorship of this painting has been updated from the workshop of Fra Angelico to the master himself.

Description

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.
  • -1924
    Count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi (1878-1955), Rome, Italy
    1924-1944
    Mrs. Francis F. Prentiss (1865–1944), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1944-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Milliken, William Mathewson. The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art. [New York]: [The Art news], 1936. cat. no. 112
    Catalogue of the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection : Bequest of Elisabeth Severance Prentiss, 1944. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944. Reproduced: p. [11], Plate I, cat. no. 1; Mentioned: p. 21, cat. no. 1 archive.org
    Francis, Henry S. “Paintings in the Prentiss Bequest.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 31, no. 6 (1944) p. 87 www.jstor.org
    Angelico, and John Wyndham Pope-Hennessy. Fra Angelico. New York: Phaidon Publishers; distributed by Garden City Books, 1952. p. 197
    “Gothic Art 1360-1440.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 50, no. 7 (1963). cat. no. 79 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings Before 1500. Cleveland: The Museum, 1974. . cat no. 14, p. 41-42
    Bonsanti, Giorgio, and Angelico. Beato Angelico: catalogo completo. Firenze: Octavo, 1998. pp. 115-116, cat. no. 7
    Kanter, Laurence B., Angelico, Pia Palladino, and Magnolia Scudieri. Fra Angelico. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. p. 9, no. 15
    Angelico, Magnolia Scudieri, and Sara Giacomelli. Fra Giovanni Angelico: pittore miniatore o miniatore pittore? Firenze: Giunti, 2007. p. 45, fig. 37
    Schumacher, Andreas, et. al. Florentiner Malerei: Alte Pinakothek : die Gemälde des 14. bis 16. Jahrhunderts. [München]: Alte Pinakothek; Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2017. Reproduced: p. 230, Abb. 11.2
    Quené, Saskia C., and Angelico. Goldgrund und Perspektive: Fra Angelico im Glanz des Quattrocento. Berlin : Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 70-71, figs. 7 & 8
  • Fra Angelico. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 24, 2005-January 30, 2006).
    Gothic Art 1360-1440. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 6-September 15, 1963).
    Exhibition of the Month: The Rise of the Landscape in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9-September 26, 1948).
    Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1936).
  • {{cite web|title=Coronation of the Virgin|url=false|author=Fra Angelico|year=1420s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.79