“I Saw Wonders. I Saw Horrors” – Reconsidering Euguerrand Quarton’s Coronation of the Virgin

Complex online lecture from the Courtauld Research Forum looking at Euguerrand Quarton’s Coronation of the Virgin in Avignon.

I didn’t know this altarpiece from 1453 with a rather strange Trinity which shows the Father and Son as the same young, bearded man reversed. Emma Capron from the National Gallery took us through the various possible explanations of its iconography looking at how it reflects the wishes of the donor Jean de Montagny who had a devotion to the Trinity.

She also looked at how it might reflect the visionary beliefs of the Carthusian monks as well as those of the mystic Bridget of Sweden. It does seem to closely follow Bridget’s writings. It was originally placed in the funeral chapel of Pope Innocent VI, the founder of the monastery, and elements of it may refer to the foundation story as well as encouraging people to pray for the soul of the founder.

I do enjoy this sort of detailed analysis of a single image particularly one that is new to me.

 

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