The Coronation of Mary (painting by Lippi)

In the late 1430s, Filippo Lippi left the Carmine Monastery in Florence to open his workshop. He did not have enough money to pay for assistants and students. Only his permanent employees worked with Lippi: Fra Carnevale , Fra Diamante and another unknown “artist Piero di Lorenzo”. Perhaps it was the Master of Castell Christmas ( Italian: Maestro della Natività di Castello ). The painting was commissioned according to the last will of the canon of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo and the procurator of San Ambrogio, Francesco Marigny (d. 1441), who donated money to create a new altar image for the cathedral. According to the documents, Lippi received money to fulfill the order of Marigny in parts from 1439 to 1447. The picture was admired by its novelty both among artists and ordinary viewers. Many copies of herself and her details have been preserved. According to Vasari , the altar image really liked Cosimo Medici , who became a big fan of Lippi's work and his patron. The painting was in the church until 1810, when it was stolen. Since 1890 - in the Uffizi Gallery.

The painting was made on one large panel, but Lippi divided it into three arches that give the image a traditional triptych shape. The altar image was equipped with a gilded wooden decor, which was not preserved. The limit to the “Crowning” - “The Miracle of St. Ambrose ” is kept in the Berlin Picture Gallery .

The artist chose the most iconographic type of Coronation in Italy at that time, when Mary kneels before God the Father laying a crown on her head. The composition is based on a triangle, its top, the crown of the Virgin Mary, is the vanishing point of the lines of perspective . The dominant position of the central figures is emphasized by their size, larger than that of the surrounding characters. The platform with the throne is surrounded by angels - Lippi repeats the traditional compositional solution, found, for example, in The Coronation of Mary (1414) by Lorenzo Monaco .

Lippi abandoned the archaic golden background, depicting stripes - a symbol of the seven heavens ( Italian: Cieli del Paradiso ). Four angels are holding in their hands a gold ribbon with the words of prayer. At the bottom of the picture is a series of kneeling saints, the artist here, following the example of his predecessors, combined two plots - Coronation and Holy Interview . Among the saints are Magdalen , Saint Eustathius with two children and his wife - Theophist, whose eyes are turned directly to the viewer.

An angel holding a cartouche labeled PERFECIT IS OPUS (“he ordered work”), points to a donor . Next to him is John the Baptist . On the left, at the feet of St. Ambrose, Lippi portrayed himself in the clothes of the Carmelite.

Having placed the Annunciation scene in the upper round “windows”, Lippi deviated from the tradition, according to which Coronation was usually combined with the Assumption of Mary . Lilies in the hands of angels - a reminder of the Immaculate Conception .

The monumentality and plasticity of the figures of "Coronation" makes them similar to the characters of Masaccio . However, Lippi created more elegant rounded shapes, paying more attention to smooth lines and creating volume using chiaroscuro.

• Art Gallery No. 178, Kiev, 2008 ISSN 1993-138-7
• AA.VV., Galleria degli Uffizi, collana I Grandi Musei del Mondo, Roma 2003