English workshop, traditionally known as the "Nottingham School", second half of the 15th century The Coronation of the Virgin Relief-carved panel in polychromed and gilded alabaster, originally part of an altarpiece Size: 43 x 32 x 5.5 cm Restoration in the lower left part, standardized with a light brown whitewash. Restorations (notably vertical cracks in the mandorla on the left), small accidents (cracks or breaks and spalls), dust. Provenance: private collection from Normandy, by descent. Comparative works: -England, circa 1460-1490, The Swansea altarpiece, carved and painted alabaster panels in a painted and gilded wooden frame, 83 x 216 cm, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, n°inv. A.89:1 to 8, 10 to 15-1919 https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70204/the-swansea-altarpiece-altarpiece-unknown/ -England, 15th century, The Assumption of the Virgin Mary, polychromed alabaster panel, 41.9 x 26.7 cm, London, Victoria and Albert Museum, no. A.32-1910. Related literature: -Markus Schlicht, "Standardization as a guarantee of commercial success? Les albâtres anglais de la fin du Moyen Âge", in Perspective, Actualité en Histoire de l'art, n°2, 2019, pp.179-194 ; - Zuleika Murat, English alabaster cavings and their cultural contexts, The Boydell Press, 2019; - Le retable en alabâtre des 7 joies de la Vierge, basilique Saint-Michel, Bordeaux, CIAP dossier, 2019 This remarkably fine alabaster panel originally belonged to a devotional altarpiece produced by an English workshop in the 16th century. It depicts the Virgin Mary seated in majesty in a mandorla flanked by six angels, those in the upper register in full coronation action. Kneeling on the Virgin's left, Saint Thomas receives the Virgin's sash, which slips from his waist through his robe. This iconographic detail generally belongs to the scene of the Assumption of the Virgin. Here, the "tailleur d'ymage" seems to have skilfully merged two scenes traditionally depicted side by side in altarpieces dedicated to the Seven Joys of the Virgin. Born in the 15th century in the Franciscan sphere, devotion to the Seven Joys of the Virgin (Annunciation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Resurrection of Christ, Ascension of Christ, Assumption of the Virgin, Coronation of the Virgin) was widely disseminated via alabaster works executed by English workshops, such as the altarpiece preserved in the church of Saint-Michel in Bordeaux or the Swansea altarpiece in the Victoria and Albert Museum. As Markus Schlicht points out, the changes in the composition of the Coronation of the Virgin (and here the merging of the Assumption and Coronation events) probably reflect important theological changes. The Virgin explicitly embodies the Church and the Papacy, as the crown, in the form of a pontifical tiara, suggests. The crowning, traditionally performed by God the Father and Christ, is here performed by two angels; the cut-out top indicates the presence of an upper register that may have been inhabited by a God bust, relegating the divine figure to the background, as seen in the Assumption scene in the church of Montreal (Yonne). This composition bears witness to a complex doctrinal formulation relayed by an image of great richness, supported by polychromy and a variety of details. The decoration of the mandorla, composed of triangular motifs in a variety of colors, is reminiscent of the finest work from the workshops of the Nottingham School. Expert: Cabinet Lacroix - Jeannest