L’INCORONATA.

The Coronation of the Virgin. Lat. Coronatio Beatae Mariae Virginis. Ital. Maria coronata dal divin suo Figlio. Fr. Le Couronnement de la Sainte Vierge. Ger. Die Kroenung Mariae.

The usual type of the Church triumphant is the CORONATION OF THE VIRGIN properly so called, Christ in the act of crowning his Mother; one of the most popular, significant, and beautiful subjects in the whole range of mediaeval art.

When in a series of subjects from the life of the Virgin, so often met with in religious prints and in the Roman Catholic churches, we find her death and her assumption followed by her coronation; when the bier or sarcophagus and the twelve apostles appear below, while heaven opens upon us above; then the representation assumes a kind of dramatic character:  it is the last and most glorious event of her history.  The Mother, dying on earth, is received into glory by her Son who had gone before her, and who thus celebrates the consummation of his victory and hers.

But when the scene is treated apart as a single subject; when, instead of the apostles gazing up to heaven, or looking with amazement into the tomb from which she had risen, we find the lower part of the composition occupied by votaries, patron saints, or choral angels; then the subject must be regarded as absolutely devotional and typical.  It is not a scene or an action; it is a great mystery.  It is consecrated to the honour of the Virgin as a type of the spiritual Church.  The Espoused is received into glory and crowned with the crown of everlasting life, exalted above angels, spirits, and men.  In this sense we must understand the subject when we find it in ecclesiastical sculpture, over the doors of places of worship, in the decorative carving of church utensils, in stained glass.  In many of the Italian churches there is a chapel especially dedicated to the Virgin in this character, called la Capella dell’ Incoronata; and both in Germany and Italy it is a frequent subject as an altar-piece.

In all the most ancient examples, it is Christ only who places the crown on the head of his Mother, seated on the same throne, and placed at his right hand.  Sometimes we have the two figures only; sometimes the Padre Eterno looks down, and the Holy Spirit in the form of the dove hovers above or between them.  In some later examples the Virgin is seated between the Father and the Son, both in human form:  they place the crown on her head each holding it with one hand, the Holy Spirit hovering above.  In other representations the Virgin kneels at the feet of Christ; and he places the crown on her head, while two or more rejoicing and adoring angels make heavenly music, or all Paradise opens to the view; and there are examples where not only the choir of attendant angels, but a vast assembly of patriarchs, saints, martyrs, fathers of the Church—­the whole company of the blessed spirits—­assist at this great ceremony.