Coronation of the Virgin

1324 · National Gallery of Art, Washington

religious

In the Duecento, a lively school of panel painting arose in Venice, but Venetian painting found its first authoritative voice in Paolo Veneziano, whose signed works can be dated from the 1320s to the 1360s. Paolo's works exemplify the refinement of Italo-Byzantine style. In Paolo's earliest dated work, the Coronation of the Virgin, the freedom, freshness and brilliance of colour epitomize Venetian taste.

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About the Artist

Paolo Veneziano

1300 – 1360

Italian painter and possibly illuminator. He was by far the most prolific and influential Venetian painter of the early 14th century, as well as the only artist of the century who may be considered the official painter of the Republic. He was the principal painter working in the Byzantine style in 14th-century Venice. In 1358 he and his son Giovanni jointly signed a Coronation of the Virgin (New York, Frick Collection) which is the last known work by him, but another Coronation (Washington, National Gallery) attributed to him is dated 1324. His son Luca was also a painter and the father and both sons jointly signed the cover which they made for the Paliotto, the Pala d'Oro, in St Mark's in 1345.

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