The Coronation, Crivelli’s last recorded work, is a stiff, crowded and richly decorated scene in which Christ and the Virgin are seated on a throne raised above the ground by a group of angels whose mouths appear to be emitting golden rays. The Dead Christ, on the other hand, is remarkable for its concentrated intensity of expression culminating in the play of the figures’ hands and the book whose pages flutter in a breeze that also causes the candle to gutter.
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“The laws of physics do not apply in Heaven. Carved cornucopias come to life, grow, and bear real fruit. Swirls of sculpted foliage, green with chlorophyll, wrap sun and moon in their coils. When God emerges from a hole in the sky to crown the Virgin Mary, deep space reveals a swarm of tiny red cherubim. In the mortal realm where Christ lies dead, perspective works, objects are their normal size, and draped cloth obeys the law of gravity.”
Ingrid Rowland
AUTHOR Carlo Crivelli
DATE 1493
OBJECT TYPE AND MATERIAL Tempera and oil on panel
DIMENSIONS Pietà cm 128 x 225 - Incoronazione della Vergine cm 225 x 225
INVENTORY 737
ROOM XXII
Work on display