brbThe eighth volume in the Frick Diptych series focuses on a stunning Renaissance painting, pairing an essay by Frick deputy director Xavier F. Salomon with a fascinating contribution from contemporary composer Nico Muhly.bbrbrAccording to Muhly, the iCoronation of the Virgin iis a panel of pure theater and music. Painted in 1358 by the Venetian artist Paolo Veneziano ca. 1295-1362, the apocryphal story of the Virgin's death is depicted here in one of the artist's most thrilling and important works. Paolo Veneziano presents the Virgin and Christ in sumptuous garments and surrounded by a choir of angels playing portable organs, lutes, trumpets, tambourines, and other instruments. The angels symbolize the harmony of the universe their instruments are the authentic components of a medieval orchestra, accurately depicted and correctly held and played. The decorative sparkle of the surface -- with its brilliant, expensive colours, patterned textiles, and lavish gold leaf -- reflects the Ve