Object of the Month: Pere Lembrí, The Coronation of the Virgin

Phoenix Art Museum is highlighting one of its oldest works on Thursday, October 22, with a half-hour gallery talk on Pere Lembrí's The Coronation of the Virgin. Master docent Karen Kahler will lead the session, which runs from 11:30 AM to 12:00 PM at the museum's 1625 N Central Ave location.

The painting is a gold-ground panel from the 1400s, featuring angels, saints, and celestial leaf. It's one of the newest additions to the museum's European art collection, but it's also one of its oldest pieces. It was originally part of a monumental altarpiece, and it wasn't attributed to Lembrí, a Catalan master, until 2004. The talk is interactive, so you'll be standing in the gallery with the work right there rather than just listening to a lecture.

If you're not familiar with the gold-ground style, it's exactly what it sounds like: the background is gilded, which makes the figures pop and gives the whole thing a luminous, timeless quality. That's a hallmark of the period, and seeing it in person is a different experience than seeing a photo. The talk is short—just thirty minutes—so it's easy to fit into a morning at the museum.

Admission is free for members and included with general admission for everyone else. The talk starts at 11:30 AM on Thursday, October 22, at the Phoenix Art Museum.