The coronation of the Virgin

Giovanni di Paolo Veneziano (active 1345-1358) (workshop of)

Paolo Veneziano (active 1333-1358) (workshop of)

Item type:

painting

Date of creation:

1358

Height:

109.9 cm  (43 1/4 in.)

Width:

68.6 cm  (27 in.)

Technique / Medium:

tempera on poplar panel

Description

In the foreground Christ crowns the virgin, flanked by two angels, each playing a portative organ. Fourteen music-making angels surround the upper part of an architectural framework. At left, a frame drum (its player also sings), straight trumpet, gittern, and bladder pipe. At right, a shawm, harp-shaped psaltery, straight trumpet, and a second shawm. At center, a fiddle (or early lira da braccio), lute, semitrapazoidal psaltery; three angels sing. All instruments are depicted in detail.

People as subjects

St. Mary (Blessed Virgin) (Non-musician/dancer)

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Portative organ [2267]
End-blown trumpet [6556]
Gittern [3365] (plucked with plectrum)
Bladder pipe [3748]
Shawm [4258]
Psaltery (triangular) (harp-shaped, strings run vertically; four soundholes, each of a different design; plucked with thumb and fingers.)
Trumpet [4446] (straight trumpet)
Fiddle [3142] (or early lira da braccio; four strings on the fingerboard, one off.)
Lute [3394] (plucked with plectrum)
Psaltery (trapezoidal) (semitrapazoidal, thirteen groups of three strings each; three small roses and one large central one, each of a different design; plucked with a plectrum.)
Frame drum [2598]

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Art in The Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996).

Paintings in The Frick Collection: French, Italian and Spanish (New York: The Frick Collection, 1968) vol. 2.

Muhly, Nico and Xavier F. Salomon. Paolo Veneziano's Coronation of the Virgin (New York, NY: The Frick Collection ; Lewes, UK: in association with GILES, an imprint of D Giles Limited, 2022). ISBN 9781913875152.

RIdIM record id

1779