Description

The Coronation of the Virgin celebrates the culminating scene in the narrative cycle of the life of the Virgin. The subject follows Mary’s ascent into heaven after her death. Surrounded by a choir of music-making angels, the Virgin kneels to accept her crown from God and Christ. Completing the Trinity is the dove of the Holy Ghost touching its wings to their mouths. In this event, Mary takes on the role of the personification of the Church itself in her depiction as Regina Coeli or Queen of Heaven. The painter takes his name from an altarpiece in the church at Rubielos-de-Mora, Spain, though little is known about him. His style, featuring piercing eyes and protruding mouths with long slender fingers, is characteristic of Valencian art around 1400.