Coronation of the Virgin

Whilst the Assumption of the Virgin is amongst Titian's most famous painting, his Coronation of the Virgin is a lesser known, but still significant artwork

Tiziano Vecellio (Titian) is undoubtedly the master of high renaissance. His painting, the Coronation of the Virgin artwork is among his great religious artwork in the painter's career. Although the painting did not receive much recognition compared to his other paintings, it still remains the greatest creation ever made by Titian.

Coronation of the Virgin is a religious painting that shows the Virgin Mary being coroneted by Jesus Christ while the angels and the archangels sing and rejoice in heaven and the 12 disciples of Christ watched from down on earth. It is not yet clear when the painting was created, but the high renaissance depicted in the artwork estimates the painting to have been created in 1500 to 1520 when the high renaissance movement was very strong in Italy. The Italian painter was well acquainted with the royalties in the Holy Roman Empire, Rome and Naples, that is the reason why most of his artwork revolved around religious scenes and mythologies. Coronation of the Virgin was a painting that was made in Rome for one of the European Royal Courts and Titian clearly made enough earnings from the selling his paintings to the royalties.

Titian incorporated different styles when creating this artwork but the most evident one is the high renaissance. This was an art movement that was common among Italian painters such as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. It involved the re-creation of classical arts from the beautiful natural world to the human form. The movement was created by a group of famous Italian painters and it was active between the 15th century, to the 16th century. Mannerism is also evident in the Coronation of the Virgin painting. It was a painting style that painters used in the later years of the renaissance movement. The decoration in the painting is a little complex and the poses used by the characters are exaggerated a bit.

The painting was completed using oil and painted on canvas. Oil and canvas were commonly used in past artworks to create permanent paintings that are still available, centuries later. As earlier mentioned, there is not much information about the painting across the internet and it is therefore not clear when the painting was first commissioned. However, the original painting is displayed in the Vatican Museum in Vatican City, it has been there for an unspecified number of years.

Artists Influencing Titian's Style

Raphael – He was a famous painter in Italy, who together with Leonardo da Vinci, were strong supporters of the renaissance art movement. Titian admired the painting techniques of Raphael and he used most painting techniques by Raphael on his paintings. Giovanni Bellini – He inspired the early years of the painter’s career. Titian spent a lot of his youth years learning painting from Bellini. Giorgione – He was not only his friend but also his mentor. They both created amazing paintings and were both trained by Giovanni Bellini. The artistic styles used in the Coronation of the Virgin painting were highly inspired by Giorgione.