Paolo Veneziano

In a recent episode of ‘Travels with a Curator’, Xavier Salomon from The Frick Collection takes us to San Severino Marche, Italy, to discuss ‘Coronation of the Virgin’ by Paolo Veneziano. Toward the end of the discussion, there is a brief mention of the painting by Paolo in the National Gallery of Victoria collection and its possible connection with the work in The Frick Collection. The episode can be watched at: https://www.frick.org/interact/miniseries/travels_curator/san_severino_marche

Paolo Veneziano (active c. 1320-1358) is one of the great Venetian painters of the late Medieval period.  Born into a family of artists, his father Martino, brother Marco and sons Luca, Marco and Giovanni worked with him in his large studio in Venice where he was regarded as the official painter of the Venetian Republic.

Due to the sparse documentation, little is known about his history. However, it is generally accepted that his career as a painter was underway in the second decade of the 14^th century. There is some evidence that he was involved in the depiction of the five stories of the Virgin in the Musei Civici in Pesaro and the frescoes in the church of San Fermo in Verona around this time. His style was evolving and there are obvious references to Giotto in these works.

The first clearly documented work by Paolo is the triptych Dormitio Virginis from 1333 which is now in the Museo Civici in Vicenza. The central element depicts the episode of the dormitio (or domition) of the Virgin which is celebrated in the Orthodox Church but not recorded in the Christian canonical scriptures. The Virgin is depicted falling asleep and dying without suffering in a state of spiritual peace because she would then be assumed body and soul into Heaven by her Son. The Madonna is lying on a bed, surrounded by the apostles and by angels. In his arms Christ holds the soul of the child Mary which, having left the body, is reborn through death for all eternity. The remaining side elements of the triptych (not shown here) are panels of Saint Francis with stigmata and Saint Anthony of Padua. This work shows a considerable expressive refinement with both Byzantine and transalpine Gothic influences suggesting that Paolo had travelled in the intervening years.

Paolo’s workshop was both well-regarded and famous, with the family receiving commissions for many of the most important churches in Venice and the Venetian mainland territories, and also for churches in Bologna and for towns along the Adriatic coast.

His name has been linked with many works including the Madonna and Child (1340) in the Crespi Collection in Milan, the Pala Feriale (weekday altarpiece) commissioned by the Doge Andrea Dandolo for the St Mark’s Basilica in 1345, the polyptych in the church of San Martino at Chioggia from 1349, another polyptych in the Louvre (1354) and a further altarpiece from the church of San Giorgia at Pirano d’Istria (1355).

This altarpiece – the Pala Feriale – covered the Pala d’Oro on ordinary weekdays. In the centre, the dead Christ is surrounded by St George, St Mark, and the Virgin on the left, and St John the Evangelist, St Peter, and St Nicholas on the right. The lower register shows stories from the life of St Mark, the miraculous discovery of the saint’s body, and its translation to Venice.

The Coronation of the Virgin in The Frick Collection dates from 1358 and is signed by Paolo together with his son Giovanni. This painting would have been one of the last works by Paolo as his death was recorded by 1362. In the painting we see the figures of the Virgin and Christ seated on an elaborate throne. Christ is crowning the Virgin as the ‘Queen of Heaven’ while angels play music and sing praises to acknowledge the occasion. An image of the sun is placed beneath the foot of Christ, and a corresponding moon is beneath the Virgin’s foot.

The history of the painting has been lost, but given the saints depicted in the laterals, it is believed to have originally been made for the key Dominican Church in San Severino – Santa Maria del Mercato – now known as the Church of San Domenico which was built in the 13^th century.

The structure of this exquisite gold-ground panel indicates that it was originally the centrepiece of a larger altarpiece (a polyptych) which was broken up sometime before the 1820s. In 1977 a German scholar suggested that the laterals of the altarpiece are in the Pinacotheca Museo Civico at San Severino Marche and Salomon provides a ‘reconstruction’ of how he believes the work in The Frick Collection would have been included in the altarpiece. (Note: the current frame on the Frick painting is a much later addition and would not have been part of the polyptych)

The study of the altarpiece is still not complete, and one suggestion is that a scene of the Crucifixion may have been in the upper part of the polyptych above the Frick panel. The version of The Crucifixion by Paolo in the NGV collection has been considered as the ‘missing element’ but this seems very unlikely given the dates attributed to both works .

The painting by Paolo in the NGV collection is a great example of how his artistic style combined Byzantine and Western European elements with respect to the settings and biblical narratives chosen. This panel depicts the Crucifixion taking place before the crenellated walls of Jerusalem. Fluttering angels collect Christ’s blood, and the rocky outcrop at the base of the Cross refers to the rock of Golgotha. All of these details are found in Byzantine representations. However, the devastated swooning Virgin, with her comforting attendants, Mary Magdalene kneeling at the feet of Christ embracing the Cross, and St John and the haloed centurion (recognising Christ as the Son of God) on the right are derived from Western European depictions. In terms of style, Paolo’s painting straddles the two traditions, combining the abstraction of Byzantine icons with the softer modelling and more dynamic poses found in the art of the West.

The NGV depiction of The Crucifixion by Paolo is very similar to another earlier version by the artist in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. All the elements are present but the work in Washington also includes ‘the skull of Adam’ hidden in a fissure in the rock of Golgotha. If you look closely you will notice that the work was originally arched and extended later into a rectangular shape when the ‘taste’ for painting style changed. The small size of this work suggests that it formed the central panel in the upper tier in a portable altarpiece due to its affinities with the triptych by Paolo which is in the Galleria Nazionale of Parma from c. 1335.  

The National Gallery of Art in Washington has done considerable research on the elements that might have been part of the triptych featuring their version of The Crucifixion above an image of the Madonna and Child. Exploring similarities and connections with the shutters by Paolo in the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, the triangular gable panels depicting the Angel of the Annunciation and the Virgin Annunciate now in the J. Paul Getty Museum at Los Angeles (shown at the start of the post), and with the Madonna and Child now in the Musée du Petit Palais at Avignon proposed as the lower register of the central panel. This has resulted in a ‘reconstructed triptych’ using these elements.

Given the similarity of The Crucifixion in the NGV collection with those seen in other altarpieces, it would not be surprising if further examination led to a ‘reconstruction of a triptych’ using this work too.