L'Alunno (Niccolò da Foligno), Altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin

1464-66
Tempera and gold on wood panel
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome

The central panel follows a pattern common in the period: Christ and Mary share a single broad throne, and he places a crown on her head. Above this is the Man of Sorrows standing in the traditional sarcophagus, with the Cross and weeping angels behind.

Of the six saints in the little finials at the top I can identify only two, Jerome and Augustine, to the right of the the Man of Sorrows.

In the middle register are three female saints on the left (Agatha holding a severed breast, Catherine of Alexandria with her wheel, Mary Magdalene in long, blond hair mourning as at the crucifixion) and three other saints on the right (John the Evangelist as at the crucifixion, a female saint, and St. Ursula with her crown and St. George banner).

The bottom register has full-length portraits of (left to right) St. Julian with his swaddled sword, a bishop saint, an abbot saint with a mitre at his feet perhaps signifying a refused bishopric, St. John the Baptist in camel skin, a saint with a hand cross explaining theology, and St. Sebastian (?) with arrows and bow.

The dais beneath Christ and the Virgin is inscribed NICHOLAUS FULGINAS MCCCCLXIIII, "Nicholas of Folgino, 1464." The date given by the museum's label, however, is 1466. The artist was also known as Niccolò di Liberatore and as "L'Alunno."

Detail photographs:

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Photographed at the Pinacoteca Vaticana by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.