”VIRGIN WITH CHILD CROWNED BY ANGELS”. OIL ON PANEL. ANONYMOUS, SPANISH SCHOOL, 16TH CENTURY.

Virgin with Child crowned by angels. Oil on panel. Anonymous from Spanish school. Century XVI. Vintage Dutch style curly frame. In a natural landscape, with mountains, hills and low plants in the foreground, a seated Virgin has been placed with the Child in her arms. At the top, two angels appear flying, while holding a crown on Mary's head with one hand. Above the crown, the dove of the Holy Spirit appears surrounded by light. On the back you can see the reinforcing crossbars that help keep the board flat. The iconography of this panel is called Glorification of the Virgin, and it differs from the Coronation in that Jesus does not appear as an adult. It is a very common theme since the beginning of the development of Marian iconography in the Gothic period, and can be seen in numerous panels of Flemish origin (Virgin with Child by Petrus Christus, around 1450, Museo del Prado, catalog P01921; Virgin with Child between angels, Master of the Madonna André, ca. 1500, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, inventory 255 or 1930.62), in important Italian works (Madonna del Magnificat, Sandro Botticelli and Alessandro Filipepi, 1481-1485, Uffizi Gallery, Florence) and in engravings such as the one that presents Dürer's monogram from the National Library of Spain (inventory 2872698) dated around 1518 and which was repeated inverted throughout the 15th century (anonymous with AD anagram from around 2563 with inventory 87321 from the same library, For example). Although the iconography shows a Gothic heritage and both the composition, technique and style are clear heirs of Flemish painting, there are a series of details that are influenced by the Renaissance. Note the movement in the angels, their posture holding the crown with only one hand and the fact that they show their arms; the Virgin with a veil and her corporeality, in addition to the prominent folds of the mantle (compare with the terracotta sculpture of the Virgin from the Oratory of the Cathedral of León, given in 1536); also the anatomical study in the figure of Jesus. Compare this work with the Virgin and Child by Marcelo Coffermans, dated 1560 and preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts of Seville, or the Virgin with Child and Four Angels from the Metropolitan Museum, dated around 1510-1515 and work by Gerard David, or the Virgin of Forgiveness by Simon Pereyns in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico.

· Size: 23x30 cms. ext 53x60 cms.