(Urbino 1483 - Rome 1520) Crowning of the Virgin (called the
Oddi Altar-piece),1502-1504 "Tempera grassa" on wood transferred
to canvas cm. 272 x 165 The Crowning of the Virgin was painted
for the altar of the Oddi Chapel in the church of S. Francesco
al Prato in Perugia. In 1797 it was confiscated by the French
and transferred to Paris. When it was returned after 1815, Pius
VII (pontiff from 1800 to 1823) had it placed, instead of in its
original setting, in the new Vatican Art Gallery. In the upper
part of the composition, among angel musicians, Christ crowns
the Virgin, while in the lower part the Apostles, among whom St
Thomas with the girdle which he had received as a gift from the
Virgin, are arranged around the tomb, in which there are flowers
in place of the Virgin who has ascended to heaven. The painting,
which is an early work and usually dated between 1502 and 1504,
has always been indicated as the work of Raphael that is closest
to the style of his maestro Perugino. The predella illustrates
three