Domenico Veneziano, 'The Virgin and Child Enthroned', about 1440-4
About the work
Overview
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.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Virgin and Child Enthroned
- Artist
- Domenico Veneziano
- Artist dates
- active 1438; died 1461
- Part of the series
- Carnesecchi Tabernacle
- Date made
- about 1440-4
- Medium and support
- fresco, transferred to canvas
- Dimensions
- 241 × 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
- Frame
- 20th-century Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 1, London 2003; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2014Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance PaintingThe National Gallery (London)30 April 2014 - 21 September 2014
Bibliography
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1677F. Bocchi and G. Cinelli, Le bellezze della città di Fiorenza, dove a pieno di pittvra di scvltvra di sacri templi di palazzi, i piu notabili artifizj, e piu preziosi si contengono, Florence 1677
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1868A.W., 'Correspondance de Londres', Gazette des beaux-arts, 1868, pp. 196-200
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1869C.H. Eastlake, Materials for a History of Oil Painting, London 1869
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1878G. Vasari, Le vite de'più eccellenti pittori, scultori ed architettori: Con nuove annotazioni e commenti di Gaetano Milanesi, ed. G. Milanesi, 8 vols, Florence 1878
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1883W. Bode, 'Eine Predellentafel von Domenico Veneziano', Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, IV, 1883, pp. 89-93
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1886C. Phillips, 'Correspondance d'Angleterre, les dernières acquisitions de la National Gallery', Gazette des beaux-arts, II, 1886, pp. 487ff
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1887C. von Fabriczy, 'Neuerwerbungen im Jahre 1886 (National Gallery, London)', Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, 1887
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1897W. Bode, 'Domenico Venezianos Profilbildnis eines jungen Mädchens in der Berliner Galerie', Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, XVIII, 1897, pp. 187-93
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1903J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A History of Painting in Italy, Umbria, Florence and Siena, from the Second to the Sixteenth Century, ed. R.L. Douglas, 2nd edn, 6 vols, London 1903
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1912A. Schmarsow, 'Domenico Veneziano', L'arte, 1912, pp. 14-6
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1916L. Testi, Storia della pittura veneziana, Bergamo 1916
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1923R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
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1934G. Pudelko, 'Studien über Domenico Veneziano', Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, IV, 1934, pp. 145-200
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1935C.L. Ragghianti, 'La giovinezza e lo svolgimento artistico di Domenenico Ghirlandaio', L'arte, XXXVIII, 1935, pp. 167-98, 341-73
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1937A. Busuioceanu, 'Una nuova Madonna di Domenico Veneziano', L'arte, VIII, 1937, pp. 1-15
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1938M. Salmi, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Veneziano, Milan 1938
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1951K. Clark, Piero della Francesca, London 1951
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1952R. Longhi, 'Il Maestro di Pratovecchio', Paragone, XXXV, 1952, pp. 10-37
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1952G. Paccagnini, 'Una proposta per Domenico Veneziano', Bollettino d'arte, XXXVII, 1952, pp. 115-26
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1962D. Gioseffi, 'Domenico Veneziano: L'esordio masaccesco e la tavola con i SS. Gerolamo e Giovanni Battista della National Gallery di Londra', Emporium, CXXXV, 1962, pp. 51-72
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1964A. Parronchi, Studi sulla dolche prospettiva, Milan 1964
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1965L. Mallé, 'Appunti albertiani in margine al "Della pittura"', Arte lombarda, X, 1965, pp. 211-30
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1968C. Shell, 'Domenico Veneziano: Two Clues', in Festschrift Ulrich Middeldorf, Berlin 1968, pp. 150ff
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1979National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, January 1979 - February 1980', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, IV, 1980
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1980H. Wohl, The Paintings of Domenico Veneziano, ca. 1410-1461: A Study in Florentine Art of the Early Renaissance, Oxford 1980
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1991J. Elkins, 'The Case Against Surface Geometry', Art History, XIV/2, 1991, pp. 143-74
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1993P. Joannides, Masaccio and Masolino: A Complete Catalogue, London 1993
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2003Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, 1, London 2003
Frame
This twentieth-century frame was made at the Gallery, and is crafted from pinewood. The arched opening with spandrels was painted in a faux stone effect to maintain aesthetic continuity, as Domenico Veneziano’s The Virgin and Child Enthroned once served as a street tabernacle in Florence, Italy.
The fresco was transferred to canvas and first shown in the nineteenth century in an ornate Florentine gilt frame with an arched opening created by spandrels.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the series: Carnesecchi Tabernacle

Overview
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.