A 14th-Century Altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin

In 1370, the Florentine painter Jacopo di Cione (1325-99 ca.) and his frequent collaborator Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (1340 ca. - 1414) were commissioned to do an altarpiece for the church of San Pier Maggiore, the most prominent Benedictine women’s house in their native city. The main set of panels depicts the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, a popular subject for the churches of women religious, but this particular altarpiece was one of the largest commissioned in Florence in the 14th century, and included nine other panels on two stages above the main one, plus a predella. The original frame was lost long ago, and the sections of the predella dispersed to various museums; the large panels are at the National Gallery in London. (At least one proposed reconstruction seems to indicate that images of Saints decorated the frame, but I have not found any further information about this.)

The central panel of the main stage, and largest of the work as a whole, the Coronation of the Virgin. Jacopo and his collaborators represent the stylistic tradition now known as the International Gothic, which is very concerned with the richness of the decoration. This is evident here in the pattern painted into the white robes of Christ and the Virgin, in the blue background behind them, and the floral tracery on the Gothic structure above them; likewise in the robes of the two angels directly beneath them, and the fine detailing of their instruments. However, in many of the figures, one can see the influence of another Florentine, Giotto (1267 ca. - 1337), and his concern to create a sense of realistic space by varying colors within the robes, whether of people or angels, a concern which dominates Florentine art in the period of its greatest flourishing, the 15th century. This tendency is very notable in the other series of images, those of the life of Christ in the second stage, the Trinity and angels in the cuspids, and the life of St Peter in the predella.

To either side is shown a company of Saints kneeling in adoration, many of whom are identifiable by their attributes, while others are not. In this panel, the patron Saint of the church, St Peter, is most prominent in the front at the right, holding it in his hands, followed by St Bartholomew (holding a knife), St Stephen (with a rock on his head), St Francis, and St Mary Magdalene holding a pot of ointment, and wearing a very elaborately decorated robe. Above St Peter is St John the Evangelist, with a copy of the Apocalypse.

On the opposite side, we see in the front row Saints Paul, Matthew, Lawrence, Dominic and Catherine; above Paul, John the Baptist, and above Catherine, St Agnes; the cardinal within the group is St Jerome.

On the second tier, the Nativity of Christ. 

The Adoration of the Magi.

The Resurrection.

The women at the empty tomb.

The Ascension

Pentecost

This image of the Trinity was originally mounted in a cuspid on top of the central section, with panels of angels in adoration in the cuspids to either side of it. The quality of the faces here is inferior to those of the main panels; since they were much higher up and would not be seen as clearly, they were certainly entrusted to assistants. 

The Arrest of St Peter: note the emperor Nero giving the order to arrest the Apostle from his window. (Now at the Art Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.)

The liberation of St Peter from prison, in the Philadelphia Art Museum.

The remaining panels shown here in color are in the Painting Gallery of the Vatican Museums: St Peter raises from the dead up a Christian named Theophilus, who will succeed him in the see of Antioch.

Peter is enthroned at Antioch.

Ss Peter and Paul bid farewell to each other before their execution. (Fragmentary, now at the Museo Civico Amodeo Lia in La Spezia, Italy.)

The Crucifixion of St Peter.

This reconstruction shows how the images would have been placed within the original frame. Normally, the blank areas on the pillars to either side, the trefoils and quadrefoils, etc., would also have had paintings in them, but I have been able to find no information about them, either as to their content or how they were lost.

The church of San Pier Maggiore as it appeared in 1744, the result of a major Baroque overhaul of the 1630s. The monastery was suppressed as part of a general state-sponsored theft of Church property perpetrated by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopoldo I, and torn down, partly on the pretext that the building was old and in poor condition.

This section of the façade is all that remains of the monastery church.

Image from Wikimedia Commons by Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0.