Polyptych with Coronation of the Virgin and Saints

Cenni di Francesco, a Florentine painter active in the late fourteenth century and a follower of Agnolo Gaddi, created this Polyptych with Coronation of the Virgin and Saints around 1390. The Coronation of the Virgin was among the most prestigious subjects for Gothic altarpieces, depicting the moment when Christ crowns his mother as Queen of Heaven in the presence of the heavenly court. Now at the J. Paul Getty Museum, this polyptych preserves the grand scale and complex format of late Trecento Florentine altarpiece production.

Executed in egg tempera and gold leaf on multiple joined panels, this polyptych displays Cenni's careful but somewhat conservative Florentine draughtsmanship inherited from the Gaddi workshop. The elaborate gold ground with tooled and punched decoration, Gothic frame elements, and hierarchical arrangement of figures across multiple compartments exemplify standard late Trecento altarpiece construction.