Mary, Queen of Heaven, crowned by her son Jesus: Europe's earliest example of a Coronation of the Virgin Christian artwork, sculpted in Cotswold stone at Quenington, Gloucestershire, England, UK.
Quenington, Gloucestershire, England, UK: above a doorway into a Cotswolds village church, Christ crowns his mother as Queen of Heaven as they sit together on a wide throne, surrounded by symbols of the four Evangelists. The Romanesque sculpture, carved in the tympanum of the south portal of the Parish Church of Saint Swithin, is Europe's earliest example of a Coronation of the Virgin artwork still in its original location. The church, founded around 1100 AD, was dedicated to St Mary, but was rededicated to St Swithin after the Reformation. The Coronation scene is part of a richly carved Norman doorway, rated amongst the finest in Britain, which also features zigzag dogtooth moulding and sculpted beakheads. The Romanesque north doorway opposite features a carving of the Harrowing of Hell. Although St Swithin's was largely rebuilt in the 1800s, the quality of both sets of carvings has earned the church official protection as a Grade I Listed Building. Quenington, north of Fairford in the Cotswolds, appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Qvenintone, from the Old English 'Cwenenatun', meaning 'the women's town or settlement' (the word 'queen' has the same derivation). The church, founded by the wealthy Lacy or de Laci family, passed in 1138 to St Peter's Abbey in Gloucester and then in 1193 to the Knights Hospitaller military order. A 13th century Knights Hospitaller gatehouse survives at Quenington. The Coronation of Mary usually features Christ, sometimes with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, crowning the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven. It was a popular subject in Christian art, especially in Italy, but the Quenington sculpture, together with another early example from Reading Abbey, Berkshire, pre-dates all those in mainland Europe.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Quenington, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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