Coronation of the Virgin

This is the centre panel of an altarpiece. Two panels depicting four standing saints (Sts Peter, James, Bartholomew, and Anthony Abbot) in Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa, are suggested to be on the right-hand side, other parts are not identified.

The composition of the centre panel follows that of Giotto's Coronation of the Virgin in the Baroncelli Chapel of half century earlier. Nothing appears to have occurred between 1330 and 1380 to render Giotto's prototype out of date: the latter painting reveals no startling new approach. Only the proportions have been elongated in accordance with Gothic ideal of elegance; otherwise the design has been followed faithfully. Where the differences lie is in nuances of colour, and it is these nuances that reveal a Florentine tradition and its development.