Coronation of the Virgin

The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries, but continuing in popularity until the 18th century and beyond. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, places a crown on the head of Mary as Queen of Heaven. In early versions the setting is a Heaven imagined as an earthly court, staffed by saints and angels; in later versions Heaven is more often seen as in the sky, with the figures seated on clouds. The subject is also notable as one where the whole Christian Trinity is often shown together, sometimes in unusual ways. Crowned Virgins are also seen in Eastern Orthodox Christian icons, specifically in the Russian Orthodox church after the 18th century. Mary is sometimes shown, in both Eastern and Western Christian art, being crowned by one or two angels, but this is considered a different subject.

The subject became common as part of a general increase in devotion to Mary in the Early Gothic period, and is one of the commonest subjects in surviving 14th-century Italian panel paintings, mostly made to go on a side-altar in a church. The great majority of Roman Catholic churches had (and have) a side-altar or " Lady chapel" dedicated to Mary. The subject is still often enacted in rituals or popular pageants called May crownings, although the crowning is performed by human figures.

Official status and feast

The belief in Mary as Queen of Heaven obtained the papal sanction of Pope Pius XII in his encyclical '' Ad Caeli Reginam'' (English: 'Queenship of Mary in Heaven') of October 11, 1954.

The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast every August 22, where it replaced the former octave of the Assumption of Mary in 1969, a move made by Pope Paul VI. The feast was formerly celebrated on May 31, at the end of the Marian month, where the present general calendar now commemorates the Feast of the Visitation. In addition, there are Canonical coronations authorized by the Pope which are given to specific Marian images venerated in a particular place.

The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the fifth of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary (following the Assumption, the fourth Glorious Mystery) and therefore the idea that the Virgin Mother of God was physically crowned as Queen of Heaven after her Assumption is a traditional Catholic belief echoed in the Rosary.

Origin

The scene is the final episode in the ''Life of the Virgin'', and follows her Assumption – not yet dogma in the Middle Ages – or Dormition. The scriptural basis is found in the Song of Songs (4.8), Psalms (45.11–12) and Revelation (12.1–7). A sermon wrongly believed to be by Saint Jerome elaborated on these and was used by standard medieval works such as the Golden Legend and other writers. The title "Queen of Heaven", or Regina Coeli, for Mary goes back to at least the 12th century.

The subject also drew from the idea of the Virgin as the "throne of Solomon", that is the throne on which a Christ-child sits in a Madonna and Child. It was felt that the throne itself must be royal. In general the art of this period, often paid for by royalty and the nobility, increasingly regarded the heavenly court as a mirror of earthly ones.

The subject seems to first appear in art, unusually, in England, where a tympanum over the door of the church at Quenington in Gloucestershire of perhaps 1140 may be the earliest surviving depiction, and there is another in Reading, Berkshire. It was rapidly adopted and is prominent in the portals of French Gothic cathedrals such as Senlis, Chartres, Strasbourg, Laon, Notre-Dame de Paris, Amiens and Reims, indeed most 13th-century cathedrals in France.

There are three examples extant on Devon rood screen dados: at East Portlemouth, Holne, and Torbryan.

Composition

In earlier versions, Mary and Christ often sit side-by-side on a wide throne, and typically are only accompanied by angels in smaller altarpieces, although these were often in polyptych form, and had saints on side-panels, now often separated. Later, God the Father often sits to the left of Christ, with the Holy Spirit hovering between them, and Mary kneeling in front and below them. Christ and the Father are normally differentiated by age, and to some extent by costume: God the Father is often wearing a beehive-shaped crown, reminiscent of a Papal tiara.

By the 15th century, more individual interpretations are found. From the High Renaissance onwards, the subject is often combined with an Assumption as a group of Apostles is on the earthly space below the heavenly scene, sometimes with Mary's empty tomb. As the central panel of altarpieces became larger until it abandoned the predella and side-panels, the Coronation was one subject suited to a very tall composition, especially if it had Apostles or other saints of importance to the community depicted on the lower sections.

Devotion

The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin is also a subject of devotion throughout Christianity. Beyond art, the Coronation is a central motif in Marian Processions around the world, such as the Grand Marian Procession in Los Angeles, revived by the Queen of Angels Foundation.

Crown of Mary

The "crown" of Mary has been mentioned since the 6th century, as "corona virginum" (crown of virgins).F Tschochner, Krone in Marienlexikon Eos St. Ottilien 1988, p.685 The crown has several meanings in secular depictions. The ancient laurel crown in the Olympic Games signified victory, and a crown in gold and precious stones indicate power and wealth. In Christian iconography, the crown develops religious meanings. In an early mosaic in Ravenna, Italy, virgins present a crown to the child and Mary as a gesture of humility.Tschochner 685 The Three kings present their crowns to the newly born Jesus as a symbol of secular power submitting to Christ. Marian crowns often include elements of victory and glory, especially during the Baroque period.

A crowned Mary is usually seen in Jesse Trees, which stress her earthly royal descent from the House of David, something accorded considerable importance in the Middle Ages. In Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, she is shown as the mother of Christ, who participates in his kingdom. The Latin text there, adapted from the '' Song of Songs'', reads: ''Tota pulchra es, amica mea, veni conoravi''.

Individual works with articles

* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Beccafumi)
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (El Greco, Illescas)
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Filippo Lippi), Uffizi
* ''Marsuppini Coronation'' by Filippo Lippi, Vatican Museums
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Fra Angelico, Louvre)
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Fra Angelico, Uffizi)
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Gentile da Fabriano)
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Lorenzo Monaco)
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Rubens), Hermitage Museum
* ''Coronation of the Virgin'' (Velázquez)
* '' Coronation of the Virgin Altarpiece'' by Moretto da Brescia
* ''Oddi Altarpiece'', Raphael
* The Coronation of the Virgin by Enguerrand Quarton

Gallery

To 1500

Image:Rimini136.jpg, Giuliano da Rimini, 14th century
Image:Paolo Veneziano 005.jpg, Paolo Veneziano, 1324
Image:Gaddi Agnolo Coronation.jpg, Agnolo Gaddi, c. 1380
Image:Martino di Bartolomeo. Coronation of the Virgin.jpg, Martino di Bartolomeo, 1400
Image:Meister des Imhoff-Altars 002.jpg, German altar, 1413-1422
Image:Gentile da Fabriano 047.jpg, Gentile da Fabriano, 1422-1425
Image:Santa Trinita, Bicci di lorenzo, incoronazione della vergine (1430) dettaglio.JPG, Bicci di Lorenzo, 1430
Image:Fra Angelico 082.jpg, Fra Angelico with a larger court setting, 1430-1431
Image:Fra Angelico 081.jpg, Fra Angelico, 1434-1435
Image:Fra Angelico 038.jpg, Fra Angelico, 1437-1446
Image:Fra Filippo Lippi 007.jpg, Filippo Lippi, 1441-1447
Image:Coronation of the Virgin MET DT708.jpg, Giovanni di Paolo, 1455
Image:Meister des Marienlebens coronation.jpg, German 15th-century version with donors, Master of the Life of the Virgin
File:Spoleto051.jpg, Filippo Lippi (1467-1469); apse of the cathedral of Spoleto
Image:Botticelli,_incoronazione_della_vergine.jpg, Botticelli, with only God the Father in evidence, 1490-1492
Image:Coronation of the Virgin - Sittow.jpg, Michael Sittow, 1492-1496
Image:Gotland Källunge kyrka Hochaltar - Marienkrönung.jpg, Swedish 15th-century altarpiece in carved and painted wood (Källunge Church)

Unusual Trinities

Image:Manuscript 7 104v picture.jpg, Conventional depiction of the Trinity, with Christ showing the wounds of his Passion
File:Enguerrand Quarton, Le Couronnement de la Vierge (1454).jpg, Enguerrand Quarton with Christ and God the Father as identical figures, as specified by the cleric who commissioned the work
Image:BLRoyal2BXVFol055vAllSts.jpg, Page from Book of Hours, with three human figures for the Trinity
Image:Le Couronnement de la Vierge.jpg, Jean Fouquet, also with three human figures, in this case three identical depictions of Jesus

Post-1500

Image:HMF Duerer Gruenewald Harrich Heller-Altar DSC 6312.jpg, Albrecht Dürer combines the subject with an Assumption
Image:PalaOddiRaffaello.jpg, Raphael, 1502-1504
Image:Pietro Perugino cat65a.jpg, Pietro Perugino, 1504
Image:RGhirlandaio mary.jpg, Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, 1504
Image:Coronacion de la Virgen.jpg, El Greco 1591
Image:Coronacion de la Virgen1.jpg, El Greco, 1597
Image:Procacc1.jpg, Giulio Cesare Procaccini, c. 1604-1607
File:Coroação da Virgem (1615-19) - Amaro do Vale (attrib.).png, Attributed to , c. 1615-1619
File:Confederate Ireland flag, Kilkenny.jpg, Banner of the Irish Catholic Confederation (1642–1652)

Post-1800

File:Coroação da Virgem - Domingos António de Sequeira (c. 1830).png, Domingos Sequeira, c. 1830
File:Coronation of Mary St.Michael Toronto.jpg, Stained glass window at St. Michael's Cathedral (Toronto) depicts Coronation of the Virgin.
Image:Beuron Hochaltar Marienkrönung.jpg, 19th-century German altar

See also

* Marian art in the Catholic Church
* Art in Roman Catholicism
* Blessed Virgin Mary
* Canonical Coronation

References

External links

"The Coronation of the Virgin Mary", Augusta State University

{{Virgin Mary

Virgin Mary in art
Virgin
Catholic Mariology
Glorious Mysteries