Agnolo Gaddi, 'The Coronation of the Virgin', about 1380-85
About the work
Overview
The Virgin Mary is crowned by Christ, her son, after her ascension to heaven. The episode was very popular in Florentine painting, where it formed the central panel of polyptychs (multi-panelled altarpieces), usually flanked by images of saints. It has been suggested that two panels showing two standing saints – Peter and James on one, and Bartholomew and Anthony Abbot on the other (now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa) – were the original right-hand panels in this altarpiece. They may have been painted by a member of Gaddi’s workshop.
Close examination of the angels' wings reveals that individual feathers have been drawn by scratching through the pastel paint shades with a very fine sharp tool, revealing the gold leaf beneath.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Coronation of the Virgin
- Artist
- Agnolo Gaddi
- Artist dates
- documented 1369; died 1396
- Date made
- about 1380-85
- Medium and support
- egg tempera on wood
- Dimensions
- 183.6 × 94.3 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1857
- Inventory number
- NG568
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 19th-century Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400’, London 2011; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2011Devotion by Design: Italian Altarpieces before 1500The National Gallery (London)6 July 2011 - 2 October 2011
Bibliography
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1901A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
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1901P. Schubring, 'Die primitiven Italiener im Louvre', Zeitschrift für Christliche Kunst, XIV, 1901, pp. 352-82
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1906O. Sirén, 'Notizie critiche su quadri sconosciuti nel Museo Cristiano Vaticano', L'arte, IX, 1906
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1908O. Sirén, Giottino und seine Stellung in der gleichzeitigen florentinischen Malerei, Leipzig 1908
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1909O. Sirén, 'Giotto', in U. Thieme and F. Becker (eds), Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig 1909, pp. 25-28
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1923R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
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1926W. Gibson, 'Giotto and a Giottesque: A Comparison of Two Pictures', Apollo, IV/21, 1926, pp. 120-3
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1936R. Salvini, L'arte di Agnolo Gaddi, Florence 1936
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1940W. Paatz and E.V. Paatz, Die Kirchen von Florenz: Ein hunstgeschichtliches Handbuch: S. Miniato al Monte, 5 vols, Frankfurt am Main 1940
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1968M. Boskovits, 'Some Early Works of Agnolo Gaddi', The Burlington Magazine, CX/781, 1968, pp. 209-15
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1977B. Cole, Agnolo Gaddi, Oxford 1977
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1980B. Cole, Masaccio and the Art of Early Renaissance Florence, Bloomington 1980
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1986E. Castelnuovo (ed.), La pittura in Italia: Il Duecento e il Trecento, Milan 1986
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1988Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Italian Schools before 1400, revised edn, London 1988
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1994E.S. Skaug, Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: Attribution, Chronology and Workshop Relationships in Tuscan Panel Painting, With Particular Consideration to Florence c.1330-1430, Oslo 1994
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2011Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400, London 2011
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.