Domenico Veneziano | The Virgin and Child Enthroned | NG1215

Key facts

Full title	The Virgin and Child Enthroned
Artist	Domenico Veneziano
Artist dates	active 1438; died 1461
Series	Carnesecchi Tabernacle
Date made	about 1440-4
Medium and support	Fresco, transferred to canvas
Dimensions	241 x 120.5 cm
Inscription summary	Signed
Acquisition credit	Presented by the 26th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, 1886
Inventory number	NG1215
Location	Not on display
Collection	Main Collection

The Virgin and Child Enthroned

Domenico Veneziano

This is the central part of a painting done in fresco (painting directly on wet plaster) on the outside wall of a house in Florence. It was flanked by two saints, whose heads – the only surviving parts – are also in the National Gallery’s collection.

The grand, simple design and colours were ideal for an image that would be seen from below. The high arms of the throne project outwards towards us, framing the Virgin Mary and Christ; God the Father swoops in above and, with arms outstretched, presents them. Golden rays from his mouth pour onto the dove, the symbol of the Holy Ghost. All three members of the Trinity (God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost) are represented here.

This was Domenico’s first work in Florence. He may have been impressed by the Florentine painter Massacio’s famous fresco of the Trinity in the nearby church of Santa Maria Novella, which is also set within a fictive grey-stone arch.

This is the central part of a fresco which was once flanked by two standing saints – one beardless and one bearded – whose heads are the only remaining fragments. Together they formed a so-called ‘street tabernacle’ in the city of Florence. Street tabernacles were like like open-air altarpieces placed on the walls of a building for all to see. Its original outdoor location explains why it is damaged in some places, for example in the faces of the Virgin and Child.

The artist has signed the image on the steps of the throne: DOMINICUS/D[E]. VENECIIS. P[INXIT] (‘Domenico from Venice painted this’). According to the sixteenth-century artist and biographer Vasari it was one of the first works that Domenico painted in Florence where he began to work in around 1430. He certainly marked his presence in the city with this work which apparently sparked the envy of his fellow artists.

We see the Virgin Mary with the three members of the Trinity – God the Father, Christ and the Holy Ghost. The painting’s grand and simple design within a painted three-dimensional arch recalls Masaccio’s Trinity, which he painted for Santa Maria Novella in Florence in the 1420s and which Domenico surely knew. Domenico also imitates the innovative positioning of the haloes that Masaccio used for the first time in the altarpiece he made for Santa Maria del Carmine, Pisa. Rather than sitting upright behind the heads of the holy figures the haloes hover above, projecting in front and behind. This increases the sense of the space around them and the three-dimensionality of the scenes.

The sides of the throne also seem to jut out towards us, giving us the sense that the Virgin and Christ Child are really seated on a deep throne within this imaginary space. The throne’s arms mirrors those of God the Father; he is shown swooping in, surrounded by golden rays of heavenly light, presenting the Virgin and Child to the people on the street below. The rays coming from his mouth represent the Holy Ghost, and descend upon the dove, its symbol. Their presence confirms and emphasises the spiritual importance of the mother and child.

The image of God the Father with the Holy Ghost in the form of the dove was rare in Italian painting at this time, but it was often found in images of Christ’s baptism (such as Niccolò di Pietro Gerini’s Baptism of Christ) as they were both described as having played a role. The bold representation of God the Father shown dispatching a dove can also be found in an altarpiece by Lorenzo Veneziano, a Venetian painter, but this is shown above a scene of the Annunciation in which the Holy Ghost also played a crucial role.

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The Virgin and Child Enthroned by Domenico Veneziano

Carnesecchi Tabernacle

These three fragments painted in fresco (painting directly onto wet plaster) come from the outside of a house in Florence. They were removed in the mid-nineteenth century. They were part of a street tabernacle, a large outdoor altarpiece, painted high on a wall. It included a pair of full-length standing saints – only the heads remain – that would have surrounded the central image of the Virgin and Child enthroned.

This painting was on a house built by a member of the Carnesecchi family, who owned several properties in the area; the street was called the Canto de' Carnesecchi. This was a very visible spot on the route of religious processions in the city.

This group of fresco fragments come from a ’street tabernacle‘, an open-air altarpiece placed on the walls of a building for all to see. They were once extremely common across Europe – some can still be seen – and were intended to encourage citizens to worship even as they went about their daily lives in the city streets. This one was situated on the street known as the Canto de’ Carnesecchi in Florence, near the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

According to the sixteenth-century writer Vasari, this tabernacle was one of Domenico’s first works in Florence. The artist has signed the central section. The heads of two saints, one beardless and the other with a beard, come from two full-length figures who stood on either side of the central image of the Virgin and Child enthroned.This fresco was placed in a particularly important position on the route for religious processions in Florence. An eighteenth-century engraving shows its position: it was a prominent feature on the route between the Baptistery and Cathedral and the church of Santa Maria Novellla. This is a rare surviving example that can be viewed in a gallery: due to their outdoor location, few tabernacles survive in good condition.

The fresco was removed from the wall where it was originally painted in 1851 and restored. The bodies of the saints were apparently too damaged to be worth restoring.

This piece of public devotional art was probably commissioned by a member of the Carnesecchi family, who owned several properties in the area. The family also had two chapels in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Records show that the family owned a house, built in the 1430s or 1440s, with an image of the Virgin on the outside – it became known as the ‘house of the Virgin Mary’.

A decade after their removal from the wall, the frescoes were sold separately. The National Gallery’s first director, Sir Charles Eastlake, bought the two heads of saints for his own private collection. They were purchased by the National Gallery in 1867, after his death. The central fragment was reunited with the the saints in 1886 when it was donated to the Gallery.

Carnesecchi Tabernacle

More paintings by Domenico Veneziano