Coronation of the Virgin

In the scene, the infant Jesus, depicted as a youthful figure, crowns the kneeling Virgin, symbolising her exaltation within Christian theology. The gesture underscores the theological concept of Mary’s heavenly queenship, a theme frequently explored in Counter‑Reformation art to emphasize her intercessory role and divine favor.

Jegher’s woodcut employs bold, irregular lines and pronounced edges, characteristics that distinguish it from the finer, smoother lines of contemporary intaglio engravings. The carving retains the texture of the gouge marks, giving each impression a tactile, hand‑crafted quality. By converting Rubens’s painted chiaroscuro into stark contrasts of black and white, the print captures a sense of immediacy and vigor absent in many reproductive prints of the period.

Rubens recognized the commercial and reputational potential of printed reproductions and commissioned Jegher to produce a series of woodcuts after his paintings. While engravings were generally viewed as mere copies, these large woodcuts were regarded as original artworks in their own right. The *Coronation of the Virgin* is among the few single‑sheet, large‑format woodcuts produced in 17th‑century Flanders, marking a brief revival of a practice that had flourished in 16th‑century Italy and the Netherlands.

The collaboration between Rubens and Jegher reflects a broader 17th‑century trend of artists exploiting print media to disseminate their compositions widely. By treating the woodcut as an autonomous artistic expression rather than a simple reproduction, Rubens elevated the status of the medium. Jegher’s prints, including this coronation, remain the most notable examples of Flemish large‑scale woodcut art from the era, illustrating the intersection of commercial ambition and artistic innovation.