Antonio da Fabriano, Coronation of the Virgin

Description

It is a faithful replica that the painter made from the original by Gentile da Fabriano; unfortunately the verso with the Stigmata of St. Francis has been preserved. It was in the latter, in 1835, that Passavant read the inscription "Anno Domini 1452, die 25 Martio" (1860, I, p. 389). The painting seen by Passavant in the Buffera house in Fabriano, still intact, was probably divided between 1835 and 1858, when Eastlake saw the two faces now separated. While traces of one face were almost immediately lost, the other reaches Vienna, where, for a certain period, it was confused for Gentile's original, perhaps as a result of the primitive confusion generated by Amico Ricci who confused the two works. In reality, a careful comparison of the two plates shows obvious differences for example in the rendering of hands and faces, much less accurate in Antonio.