Antonio Zanchi, The Coronation of the Virgin Mary
Circa 1680
Ceiling Fresco
Church of Santa Maria del Giglio, Venice
The Father and Son together place the crown on Mary's head while the Holy Spirit presides above. The lifting of Mary's mantle is an unusual feature. Perhaps it alludes to Our Lady of Mercy images, where souls shelter under Mary's mantle.
The setting is a Heaven populated by a profusion of angels and saints, following the pattern established in "Paradise" paintings of the late 16th century such as
Saraceni's
or
Bassano's.
A number of saints are posed along the bottom of the composition. The one on the far right is St. Catherine of Alexandria, identified by her sword, crown, and palm branch. Left of her is St. Jerome wearing only a red cloth and beating his breast with a stone. The others, hard to identify and possibly generic, include two Franciscans and a bishop on the far left.
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Read more about images of the Coronation of Mary.
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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.