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Coronation of the Virgin

Maker

(Artists)
1577-1640

Title

Coronation of the Virgin

Date of Production

(circa) 1613 - 1620

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

Height: 46 cm (panel)
Width: 61.4 cm (panel)

Accession Number

P.1978.PG.363

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords









Label Text

These freely painted sketches were created by
Peter Paul Rubens in preparation for two ceiling
paintings, which explains their format and the
view from below. The scenes, drawn from the
New Testament, depict two episodes of the life
of Christ: on the left, he is being tempted by the
devil to turn stones into bread and to break his
fast. On the right, he crowns his mother, Mary,
as she ascends to heaven.
From these sketches, Rubens’s assistants created
the final paintings, which were part of a series of
39 large canvasses for the Church of Saint
Ignatius of Loyola in Antwerp. Completed in
1621, the paintings were destroyed by fire a
century later when lightning struck the church.

’Count Antoine Seilern’s collection held over
60 works by Rubens. The sketch of Saint Gregory was his first painting by
the artist, purchased in 1933, just as Seilern
started studying art history at Vienna University.
He especially loved to reconstruct lost painting
projects by buying related studies, as is the case
with the two sketches here.’ (Helen Martin-Leake, honorary curator, the Courtauld Gallery,
and biographer of Count Antoine Seilern)

Provenance

Herbert M Gutmann, Potsdam (acquired 1920's from ?Kochertaler, Madrid; information kindly given in 1985 by his daughter, Mrs M Whitehorn), sold Graupe, Berlin 12ff April 1934, lot 43; Dr Richard von Schnitzler, Cologne; Freiher Carl von Schröder, Hamburg; Stanley Loomis, sold Sotheby's, 2 July 1958, lot 1934; acquired by Count Antoine Seilern (1901-1978) at sale; Princes Gate Bequest 1978

Exhibition History

Peter Paul Rubens - A Touch of Brilliance, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/09/2003-08/02/2004

Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate
Collection
, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 06/10/1988-08/01/1989

Literature

Peter Paul Rubens - A Touch of Brilliance, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2003-2004
cat. no. 25
Fig. p. pl. 25

Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1988-1989
cat. no. 6
no. 6 and pp. 1-3, 8 under no. 5, 11 under no. 13
Fig. p. p. 8

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