Lorenzo Monaco - The Coronation of the Virgin

An altarpiece with such a beautiful vivid colour scheme — luminous blues and gilding. Such attention to detail.

The Virgin’s robes have faded its original pinkish mauve.

“Lorenzo the Monk”: actual name is Piero di Giovanni. He was a monk at the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence. This ascetic order had been founded in 1012 by a Benedictine monk, Saint Romuald. He was shocked at the decadence of his own monastery, and refashioned it after the mountain locality of Camaldoli in Tuscany where he built a hermitage. 

He was born c. 1370 in Siena — but spent his professional life in Florence. Giotto died 1337. So, he was obviously influenced by Giotto’s portrayal of real-life incidents as though enacted by people expressing believable emotions.

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At the centre, the Coronation of the Virgin following her Assumption to Heaven. On a delicate throne, Christ places a gilded crown on his mother’s head. This scene was depicted in 13th-century France and extremely popular in Florence at this time (although not mentioned in the Gospels). And since the Madonna sometimes personifies the Church, Christ vesting her with a regal crown confirms the authority of Church and Pope. 

Below them, angels make heavenly music in perfect symmetry.

At the left, St. Benedict (6th-century founder of the Benedictines) is shown. The book in his hand inscribed with the opening words of the Prologue of his Rule, which the Camaldolites as reformed Benedictines observed. In his left-hand, the birch he used to chastise errant monks. At his side, sits St. John the Baptist and St. Matthew with his Gospel. 

At the right, St Romuald in his white habit (as was his wont) — with St Peter and Saint John the Evangelist beside him. St Romuald on equal terms — some institutional self-promotion?