Allegretto Nuzi (c.1315-1373)

Coronation of the Virgin

Coronation of the Virgin is some 650 years old and by far the earliest work in the Southampton collection. It was created at the point where medieval art was beginning to be challenged by the new ideas of the Renaissance. Allegretto Nuzi came from Fabriano in central Italy. He seems to have spent time in Siena and also worked in Florence. Nuzi was a painter of church altarpieces usually made up of two or more panels. He worked in egg tempera, a difficult medium that provided bright and lasting colours.

Coronation of the Virgin shows Christ crowning his mother, the Virgin Mary, as Queen of Heaven while four angels provide musical accompaniment. Gathered in the side panels are saints and biblical figures, some identifiable by what they wear or carry. On the left is St Stephen with the stones of his martyrdom, King David with harp and Abraham with knife and his son Isaac. On the right is Moses with his tablets of stone and St Peter with keys and book.

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