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The subject of the main scene is ostensibly the Coronation of the Virgin, but at first you are aware mainly of twirling and flying forms. There is a mass of crinkled drapery, curving in space and clouds, apparently solid and alive with miniature cherubs, like toddlers playing on a rocky beach.
Three figures stand out: God the Father, the Madonna, and the Son. Of these three, the most extraordinary is God, who wears a massive crown and holds an orb and sceptre, just like the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor. But the most amazing thing about him is his beard, a supernaturally curly affair of independent strands, flickering sideways and upwards like flames, writhing like serpents.
This is the work of a mysterious figure known as 'Master H.L.' (the initials held up by two putti on a little plaque in the lower right of the coronation).
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