The Coronation of the Virgin Mary

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The Coronation of the Virgin Mary – Signorelli Luca This celebration of Mary's queenly dignity led to an image type in which Mary and Christ sit enthroned side by side, the Christ is lifting his right hand to crown his mother, and are flanked by two angels who represent those celestial legions. The pattern shows Mary kneeling at left, with her arms crossed on her breast, the Father seated between the Son and the Mary. The painting’s composition is based on an inverted triangle, giving a sense of great equilibrium and harmonious lines and reminiscent (both in its color and form) of a heart. The main figure is the Virgin Mary, with a modest, reverential and emotional expression, lowered eyes, a straight nose and curved lips. The sense that the inverted triangle is meant to refer to a heart is reinforced and the viewer's piety invoked by Mary pointing to her own heart. To the viewer's middle is God the Father, represented as a dignified old man, whilst to the right is the long-haired figure of Jesus Christ - are holding Mary's crown above her head. In the centre is represented in the form of the two figures head and the dove are all level. The colors Signorelli uses are greens and violets; he also used traditional reds for Mary and Christ to represent the power of life. This photograph is from a series of portraits of creative black women by Maud Sulter, who is of Ghanaian and Scottish parentage. The series is called Zabat and shows each woman as one of the nine Greek muses. The word Zabat describes an ancient ritual dance performed by women on occasions of power, and her use of it signifies Maud Sulter's call for a repositioning of black women in the history of photography. The model here is the performance artist Delta Streete who had created the costume she is pictured wearing as part of a dance performance and installation called The

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