The Coronation of the Virgin with Six Angels

c. 1390

Agnolo Gaddi

Artist, Florentine, c. 1350 - 1396

A man and woman sit above six winged angels in this vertical panel painting, which comes to a pointed arch at the top. They all have pale skin tinged with gray, rosy cheeks, blond hair, and gold halos. The woman, Mary, and man, Jesus, sit with their knees angled toward each other, and they fill the top two-thirds of the arch. The space behind them is hung with fabric that is ocean blue inside and brick red on the outside, and both sides are edged and patterned with gold. Mary and Jesus wear shell-pink robes trimmed with gold under very pale pink, almost white, mantles that drape from their heads to cover much of their bodies. The mantles are patterned with straw-yellow, delicate, leafy, geometric designs, and they are lined with moss green. Jesus wears a three-pointed gold crown and his hands are raised to place a similar crown on the woman’s head. Mary tilts her head to receive the crown with her wrists crossed over her chest. Their feet rest on a step leading down to the bottom quarter of the composition. The step has a white stone tread and is inset with green and pink stone within white molding on the riser. In front of the step, six angels are in two groups of three on a scarlet-red floor. The angels are about a quarter the height Mary and Jesus would be if they stood. The angels wear robes in shades of goldenrod yellow, fern green, azure blue, or pale pink, and their wings match their robes. One angel in each trio plays a lute-like wooden instrument. Most of the angels’ lips are parted but two look up at Mary and Jesus with lips closed.

Media Options

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The Coronation of the Virgin is the final episode in the story of Mary’s life. After her death, she ascended to heaven, body and soul, to be crowned queen by her son. Angels sang and played music in celebration. The subject of the Virgin’s coronation was especially popular in Florence during the last half of the 14th century. Often it appeared at the center of a tripartite altarpiece, flanked by crowded scenes of adoring saints on either side. Very likely, this painting was originally part of such an assemblage.

The subject of Mary’s coronation—an appropriate place for the display of regal finery—complemented a late-Gothic renewal in contemporary Florentine painting. During the later 14th century, artists explored the expressive potential of curvilinear contours and richly decorated surfaces in combination with the naturalistic approach pioneered earlier by the Florentine artist Giotto. The father of Agnolo Gaddi, in whose shop the painter had trained, had been a disciple of Giotto. But here Agnolo has departed from Giotto’s heavier and simpler forms in favor of more slender and refined figures. Mary and Jesus appear on, rather than in the space they inhabit. Profuse patterns appear in the gold brocades of their robes and the rich cloth of honor behind them fills most of the picture plane, drawing our eyes to it. Where Giotto had given his figures a certain solemnity to match their physical weight, the faces of Agnolo’s figures exhibit a gentle elegance and sweetness.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 2

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    tempera on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    painted surface: 161 × 79 cm (63 3/8 × 31 1/8 in.)
    overall: 163.2 × 79.2 × 0.7 cm (64 1/4 × 31 3/16 × 1/4 in.)
    framed: 172.1 x 87.3 x 7.9 cm (67 3/4 x 34 3/8 x 3 1/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1939.1.203

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: The Coronation of the Virgin with Six Angels, c. 1390

This horizontal painting is made up of three parts: in the center square panel, a woman reclines under a wooden shelter set into a rocky cave, which is surrounded by angels, and narrower wings to either side are each occupied by a standing man. All the people have pale skin, which is tinged with faint green. The three panels are joined with a gold frame, and the gold background behind the central scene and the men in the side panels are covered with a noticeable network of cracks. In the central panel, a cobalt-blue robe nearly envelopes the reclining woman’s body; this is Mary. It covers her head and falls open where she crosses her wrists over her chest to show a pink garment underneath. A flat gold halo encircles her head ,and her body is surrounded by a field of crimson red, almost like an aura. She rests under a wooden structure with a pitched roof, which is surrounded by craggy, barren rock. A swaddled infant lies in a rectangular, tray-like manger. The infant’s head is also surrounded by a gold halo. Fine gold rays emanate down into the structure from a star just above the peak of the roof. A bull and a donkey look down at the baby from the far side of the manger. The interior of the structure behind them is black. In a smaller scale, two women wash a haloed infant in a tub in front of the rocky cave near the lower left corner of this panel. A man with a white beard and hair sits to our left of Mary, holding a pink cloak at his throat and looking toward the infant. Above and around the rocks, seven winged and haloed angels cluster on each side. One angel to the right presents a scroll with black writing to two men accompanied by a dog and several sheep in the lower right. The man in the panel to the left, Isaiah, has a gray beard and long, wavy hair, and he wears a lilac-purple cloak draped over a coral-orange robe. In his right hand, on our left, he holds an unfurled scroll with large black lettering. His other hand is raised with one finger pointing upward. He looks to our left, away from the central scene. On the right, Ezekiel, echoes Isaiah's pose. Ezekiel holds an open scroll with his left hand, on our right, and his other hand is raised. He also wears a coral-colored robe, but his is overlaid with a blue cloak. His receding hair is short and brown, as is his beard. Like Isaiah, he takes up most of the height of the panel and gazes to our left, toward the central panel.

Scholarly Series:  Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The Hon. William Keith Rous [1907-1983], Worstead House, Norfolk; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 29 June 1934, no. 58, as by Orcagna); purchased by (Giuseppe Bellesi, London)[1] for (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence); sold October 1935 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] Bellesi worked in London as Contini Bonacossi’s agent in the 1930s.
[2] The bill of sale for several paintings, including the Gaddi, is dated 10 October 1935 (copy in NGA curatorial files). The name of the British owner is incorrectly given as the Hon. Keith Bons. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2109.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1939

  • Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 128.

1940

  • Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1940, no. 59.

Bibliography

1934

  • Christie, Manson, & Woods. Pictures and Drawings by Old Masters. London, 29 June 1934: no. 58.

1937

  • Ragghianti, Carlo Ludovico. "Su Agnolo Gaddi." Critica d’arte 2 (1937): 188, pl. 134, fig. 1.

1939

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R., and Alfred M. Frankfurter. Masterpieces of Art. Exhibition at the New York World’s Fair, 1939. Official Souvenir Guide and Picture Book. New York, 1939: no. 8, pl. 6.

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 70, no. 314.

  • National Gallery of Art. Book of Illustrations. Washington, 1941: 105 (repro.), 240.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 246, repro. 107.

1944

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 18, repro.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 21, repro.

1950

  • Gronau, Hans Dietrich. "A Dispersed Florentine Altarpiece and its Possible Origin." Proporzioni 3 (1950): 42.

1951

  • Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 23 n. 1.

1955

  • Ferguson, George. Signs and Symbols in Christian Art. 2nd ed. New York, 1955: pl. 27.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 23, repro.

1960

  • Labriola, Ada. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Edited by Alberto Maria Ghisalberti. 82+ vols. Rome, 1960+: 51(1998):146.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 2:69, pl. 350.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 54.

1966

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 39-40, fig. 98-99.

1967

  • Klesse, Brigitte. Seidenstoffe in der italienischen Malerei des 14. Jahrhunderts. Bern, 1967: 344.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 46, repro.

  • Boskovits, Miklós. "Some Early Works of Agnolo Gaddi." The Burlington Magazine 110 (1968): 210 n. 5.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 77, 308, 645, 661.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 140, repro.

  • Boskovits, Miklós. Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400. Florence, 1975: 118, 303, 304, fig. 267.

1977

  • Cole, Bruce. Agnolo Gaddi. Oxford, 1977: 28-30, 35, 36, 89, 90, pls. 83-85.

1978

  • Boskovits, Miklós. "Review of Agnolo Gaddi by Bruce Cole." The Art Bulletin 60 (1978): 708, 709.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:194-195; 2:pl. 135.

1980

  • Cole, Bruce. Sienese Painting from Its Origins to the Fifteenth Century. New York, 1980: 14-16, fig. 8.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 73, no. 13, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 163, repro.

1986

  • Ford, Terrence, compiler and ed. Inventory of Music Iconography, no. 1. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York 1986: 1, no. 4.

  • Ricci, Stefania. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In La Pittura in Italia. Il Duecento e il Trecento. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo. 2 vols. Milan, 1986: 2:572.

1988

  • Davies, Martin, and Dillian Gordon. National Gallery Catalogues. The Earlier Italian Schools. Rev. ed. London, 1988: 28.

1989

  • Bellosi, Luciano. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Dizionario della pittura e dei pittori. Edited by Enrico Castelnuovo and Bruno Toscano. 6 vols. Turin, 1989-1994: 2(1990):471.

  • Eisenberg, Marvin. Lorenzo Monaco. Princeton, 1989: 56 n. 56.

1991

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 179, color repro.

  • Petrocchi, Stefano. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Enciclopedia dell’arte medievale. Edited by Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana. 12 vols. Rome, 1991-2002: 6(1995):426, 427.

1992

  • Chiodo, Sonia. "Gaddi, Agnolo." In Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Edited by Günter Meissner. 87+ vols. Munich and Leipzig, 1992+: 47(2005):113

1993

  • Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 100-101, fig. 99.

1994

  • Skaug, Erling S. Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: Attribution, Chronology, and Workshop Relationships in Tuscan Panel Painting with Particular Consideration to Florence, c. 1330-1430. 2 vols. Oslo, 1994: 1:262, 263; 2:punch chart 8.2.

1996

  • Gold Backs: 1250-1480. Exh. cat. Matthiesen Fine Art, London. Turin, 1996: 74, repro. 76.

  • Ladis, Andrew. "Agnolo Gaddi." In The Dictionary of Art. Edited by Jane Turner. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 11:892.

  • Rowlands, Eliot W. The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: Italian Paintings, 1300-1800. Kansas City, MO, 1996: repro. 63.

1998

  • Frinta, Mojmír S. Punched Decoration on Late Medieval Panel and Miniature Painting. Prague, 1998: 132, 481.

2004

  • Skaug, Erling S. "Towards a Reconstruction of the Santa Maria degli Angeli Altarpiece of 1388: Agnolo Gaddi and Lorenzo Monaco?" Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 48 (2004): 255.

2005

  • Splendeurs de la peinture italienne, 1250-1510. Exh. cat. Galerie G. Sarti. Paris, 2005: 62, 64, repro. 66.

2016

  • Boskovits, Miklós. Italian Paintings of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2016: 131-37, color repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20173309

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