Raphael and collaborators Giulio Romano and Il Fattore
The Coronation of the Virgin Mary ("Madonna of Monteluce")

1505-1525
Oil on wood panel
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome

The lower register follows the report of Juvenal as relayed in John Damascene's "Third Oration on the Dormition." Three days after laying Mary in the sepulcher, the Apostles "desired to venerate the body that had borne God; and they opened the little tomb. But no trace of her all-blessed body could be found; and taking the winding-sheets, which were filled with fragrance, they closed the tomb" (Toal, IV, 437). The flowers in the painting represent the fragrance.

Above, Christ crowns his mother under the aegis of the Holy Spirit.

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Read more about the Coronation of the Virgin Mary.
Also see the Assumption.

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