Coronación de la Virgen (The Crowning of the Virgin)

The Crowning of the Virgin, by the Mexican artist of the eighteenth century Nicols Enrquez, illustrates a familiar Christian motif: after death, Mary, the mother of Jesus, is crowned queen of heaven by the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) amidst a choir of angels. Painted in New Spain, or colonial Mexico, in 1760, it embodies the devotional art of the era, in which heaven is seen as a place not removed from us, but intimately intertwined with human life as the realm of perfect love and divine harmony. The Crowning of the Virgin feels less like a royal ascension to me than like a study in dignified, humble receiving. Here is Mary, with folded hands, passively receiving her earthly elevation. It is one who clearly has never sought the position or the prize. It implies that one's greatness, one's ultimate fitness, depends not on wielding power or asserting authority, but on one's capacity for compassion, for obedience, for carrying the suffering of another without abandoning love for him or her. The swirling clouds, the celestial court and radiant hosts serve as not simply a diagram of paradise, but also as a symbol for the human hope for a world where justice can finally be fulfilled, grief be assuaged and where virtue can be recognized for its worth. The crown becomes not a symbol of dominion, but a celebration of one who willingly bore suffering for love. In short, this work of art whispers something to the soul about what one actually possesses. When it comes to one's soul, one receives the crown, not by how much one takes or possesses, but by how much one gives.