The Virgin Crowned by Angels
1450
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1450
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Virgin Crowned by Angels is a 1450 unspecified by Stefan Lochner, a Northern Renaissance work, depicting Cologne, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see Mary in a deep red robe, holding baby Jesus while two angels place a gold crown on her head. Tiny roses dot the floor, and the robe’s velvet shimmers with gold embroidery. The velvet looks so real you want to touch it, but it’s just paint. Artists in Germany at the time couldn’t weave this fabric—it came from Italy—so they painted it instead to show off wealth and skill. Look up *chiaroscuro* to see how light and shadow make the scene feel soft and alive.
Two angels, barely visible against a dark background, crown Mary as the Queen of Heaven. Her slight features are made more substantial by her elaborately draped, brilliant crimson mantle. Holding the Christ child, she stands on a floor scattered with red and white roses, symbols of her purity. Green palmettes enriched with costly gold thread decorate the velvet. Since silk velvet was not woven in the north, Italian velvets were frequently depicted in northern paintings during the 1400s. Lochner is thought to have come from Meersburg in southwest Germany, and is recorded as being in Cologne by…
Although they are barely visible, two angels are holding the crown above the figure of Mary.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Stefan Lochner (the Dombild Master or Master Stefan; c. 1410 – late 1451) was a German painter working in the late International Gothic period. His paintings combine that era's tendency toward long flowing lines and…
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