Le Couronnement de la Vierge

Puccio di Simone was a Florentine painter active in the mid-fourteenth century, a contemporary of the Orcagna brothers who contributed to the rich artistic production of post-plague Florence. This Coronation of the Virgin, now in the Musee du Petit Palais, depicts one of the most beloved subjects in Gothic art, showing Christ placing a crown on the Virgin's head in the heavenly realm. The subject held special significance as the ultimate glorification of Mary and was frequently chosen for the central panel of major altarpieces.

Egg tempera on gold-ground panel with the elaborate gilding and decorative tooling characteristic of mid-Trecento Florentine altarpieces. The composition arranges the sacred figures within a celestial space populated by attending angels and saints, rendered with careful attention to hierarchical scale, rich coloring, and ornamental detail.