Virgin in Glory Surrounded by Seven Archangels

The Virgin in Glory Surrounded by Seven Archangels by the Master of Marradi, painted around 1500 and now in the Courtauld Gallery in London, depicts the Virgin Mary elevated in a mandorla of glory and surrounded by the seven archangels of Jewish and Christian tradition — Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and four others whose names derive from apocryphal and pseudepigraphical sources. The cult of the seven archangels was particularly popular in Tuscany in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and this image type served the devotional needs of communities that venerated the archangelic hosts as powerful celestial protectors. The Master of Marradi, named for a Tuscan village, worked in the tradition of Ghirlandaio.

The composition organizes the seven archangels symmetrically around the elevated Virgin, creating a formal celestial court. The Ghirlandaio-influenced figure style gives the archangels a dignified, architectural presence. The palette is clear and bright, suited to the luminous subject of celestial glory.