CROWN. - Very frequent in the attire of the members of the imperial family or of those who held imperial power, between the 5th and 7th centuries, the crowns were made from a metal sheet but also from various metal plates joined together for a better fit to the head, or, indeed, probably, from a a strip of leather with studs, enamels, pearls and precious stones applied to it, set into cells. Sometimes the c. were also adorned with flowers and leaves, like those carried in the hand by the saints advancing toward the throne of the Redeemer in the mosaics of the nave of S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (520-30), similar to the one that descends from heaven to crown the Virgin in the mosaic of the cathedral of Parenzo (543-54). The c. of Justinian, on the other hand, as it appears in the mosaic of S. Vitale (547), was formed by a band of gold adorned with stones and enamels and by a double row of pearls; the other one, moreover, that encircles the head of Theodora was connected to a complex headdress with pearl pendants.
CORONA - C., work by Hans Rudolf Meyer (a. 1696). Basel, museum of the Guilds.
(phot. Bildarchiv d. Ö. Nationalbibliothek)(from P. Koelner, Basci Zuntikerrlichkeit, ein Bilderbuch der Zünste und Gesellschaften, Basel III, p. 31, fig. 21)
Sometimes at the point corresponding to the middle of the forehead the c. had a stud or an enamel or a gem that acquired particular prominence both for its size and for its preciousness. Thus in the c. of the Theodosius of Barletta, in the one that encircles the head of Honorius in the diptych of Anicius Probus in the cathedral of Aosta, in the other that crowns the so-called Carmagnola in the balustrade of S. Marco in Venice. The latter, with large studs, must indeed have been formed of articulated metal plates. A similar appearance has the c. that encircles the head of St. Agnes in the apse mosaic in the church dedicated to her in Rome (625-38).
Not all scholars agree on the dating of the so-called "Iron C.", preserved in the cathedral of Monza, which on the inside has an iron strip, obtained, according to tradition, from a nail of the Cross, and on the outside is entirely adorned with stones set in place and enamels executed with a technique that seems older than the 6th century but arranged, the enamels and the stones, according to a taste not unlike that which is recognized as proper to the works of barbarian goldsmithing (v. BARBARICA, ARTE); among which must be placed, in the same cathedral of Monza, the c. known as that of Theodelinda, to which is attached a cross once joined to another c. inscribed with the name of Agilulf. The c. of Theodelinda forms a group with the others of the 7th century found in Spain in the sanctuary at the Fuente de Guarrazar near Toledo, in part, at least, ex voto.
The type of the c. does not seem to change in the 9th and 10th centuries, for similar ones are seen on the head of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI in the mosaic of the narthex of S. Sophia (886-912) and similar ones, in the imagination of the mosaicist who decorated the vestibule of the same church between 986 and 994, did the emperors Constantine and Justinian have.
With the Romanesque age the c., symbol of royalty, continues to be assigned to all the mighty of heaven and earth. Already in the 10th century it encircled the head of the saints painted in the apse of the little church of S. Sebastiano on the Palatine in Rome, and then between the 10th and 11th centuries the head of Philosophy is seen encircled by it in the floor mosaic of the cathedral of Ivrea and that of Christ in the bronze plate with the Crucifixion in the portal of S. Zeno in Verona. The latter c. may resemble a turreted wall like the famous lamp of Hildesheim, which is of the 11th century.
In fact with the 11th century the c. change in style, both because of the desire for novelty, common to the peoples of the Romanesque age, and because they were wanted more showy or imposing in order to better distinguish those who had the right to encircle their head with them.
Thus the c. of St. Stephen, of the kings of Hungary, which is in part Byzantine work of the 11th century, and the c. known as that of Charlemagne, today in the Schatzkammer of Vienna, a work of Siculo-Byzantine art, created, perhaps, for the coronation of Conrad II (1027), formed with gold plates, stones, enamels and filigrees, very tall at the front and surmounted by a crest likewise encrusted with gems.
On the other hand the naturalistic elements introduced into sculpture, and consequently into goldsmithing during the Romanesque age, accentuated later in the 12th and 13th centuries with the spread of the Gothic taste, bring it about that the c. are now adorned above all with decorative elements drawn from flora, and it is leaves and flowers that prevail in stylized form. Thus in the c. known as that of the emperor Henry II in the Residenzmuseum of Munich and in the crowned images sculpted by Wiligelmo and then by Antelami in Parma and Modena and in the others painted or sculpted during that age. And it is precisely the floral elements, evolved during the 13th and 14th centuries, that assume the appearance of lilies in the c. that encircled the head of the kings of France during the 14th century, as are seen in the panel painted by Simone Martini, today in the picture gallery of the museum of Naples, depicting St. Louis of Toulouse placing the royal c. on the head of his brother Robert. The type spread widely and served also to encircle the head of sacred images such as the Madonna of Acuto (Rome, museum of the Palazzo Venezia). During the 15th century the c. often assumed more modest proportions and in general were formed by a metal strip with points culminating in a pearl (e.g., the one that encircles the head of the queen of Cyprus, Caterina Cornaro, in the portrait by Gentile Bellini that is in the museum of Budapest).
With the sixteenth century and the following centuries the c. once again changed style but in general were constituted by a gemmed circle surmounted by a cap of cloth protected by strips or metal plates joined at the top by a gem or by a globe surmounted by the cross (c. of the Habsburgs completed by David Altenstetter in 1602, today in the Schatzmuseum of Vienna, the one for the coronation of Napoleon by Nittot today in the Louvre, the modern one of the kings of England). Similar c. were also used to encircle the head of the Virgin and of the Redeemer in sculpted sacred images, such as those that crown the head of the Madonna and Child in the statue by Sansovino in the church of S. Agostino in Rome. - See plates XXVI-XXVII.
