拍品专文
Paolo Veneziano was the most prominent artist in Venice during the fourteenth century, running a thriving workshop that arguably laid the foundations of the Venetian school of painting in successive centuries. With his roots in the Byzantine tradition, he created a new idiom that would earn commissions from his native city and beyond.
This panel, to date unknown, is a significant addition to the corpus of the artist, providing further insight into his activity during his late maturity. It almost certainly served as the central pinnacle of a triptych, or polyptych; the triangular shape is unusual in his oeuvre, indeed this may be the only such example. In its overall design, the composition is close to the middle panel in the upper register of the Polyptych of Saint Lucy, given to Veneziano and his workshop, made circa 1325 for the Abbey of St. Lucy in the village of Jurandvor, Croatia. In terms of execution it can be compared most instructively to the Crucifixion in the National Gallery of Art, Melbourne (fig. 1), which is on a larger scale and of a different format, and dates to circa 1350. Both these panels feature a parapet with crenellations behind the lower part of the cross, a motif that represents the wall of Jerusalem, and occurs more widely in the artist’s work (for example in the Crucifixion in the National Gallery of Art, Washington). It is also used here, in this newly discovered panel, where the surface of the wall itself is embellished with foliate decoration. The parapet acts as an elegant pictorial device that gives the work depth and volume.
The figure of Christ, which is well preserved, is executed with great refinement, with delicate highlights on his face and torso. Dr. Christopher Platts, to whom we are grateful, first proposed that this is a mature work by the artist (on the basis of photographs), datable to circa 1350, noting that the handling of Christ is in fact of higher quality than other comparable figures given to Paolo Veneziano and his workshop around the same time. We are also grateful to Dr. Cristina Guarnieri and Dr. John Witty, who have further endorsed the attribution, also on the basis of photographs. All scholars note that the gold ground – and consequently the figures' haloes – appear to be for the most part new, unfortunately obscuring Paolo Veneziano’s characteristic punch marks that can be helpful in the dating of his paintings.
This panel, to date unknown, is a significant addition to the corpus of the artist, providing further insight into his activity during his late maturity. It almost certainly served as the central pinnacle of a triptych, or polyptych; the triangular shape is unusual in his oeuvre, indeed this may be the only such example. In its overall design, the composition is close to the middle panel in the upper register of the Polyptych of Saint Lucy, given to Veneziano and his workshop, made circa 1325 for the Abbey of St. Lucy in the village of Jurandvor, Croatia. In terms of execution it can be compared most instructively to the Crucifixion in the National Gallery of Art, Melbourne (fig. 1), which is on a larger scale and of a different format, and dates to circa 1350. Both these panels feature a parapet with crenellations behind the lower part of the cross, a motif that represents the wall of Jerusalem, and occurs more widely in the artist’s work (for example in the Crucifixion in the National Gallery of Art, Washington). It is also used here, in this newly discovered panel, where the surface of the wall itself is embellished with foliate decoration. The parapet acts as an elegant pictorial device that gives the work depth and volume.
The figure of Christ, which is well preserved, is executed with great refinement, with delicate highlights on his face and torso. Dr. Christopher Platts, to whom we are grateful, first proposed that this is a mature work by the artist (on the basis of photographs), datable to circa 1350, noting that the handling of Christ is in fact of higher quality than other comparable figures given to Paolo Veneziano and his workshop around the same time. We are also grateful to Dr. Cristina Guarnieri and Dr. John Witty, who have further endorsed the attribution, also on the basis of photographs. All scholars note that the gold ground – and consequently the figures' haloes – appear to be for the most part new, unfortunately obscuring Paolo Veneziano’s characteristic punch marks that can be helpful in the dating of his paintings.