Veneziano Madonna and Child with Saints
Artist: Domenico Veneziano (Italian b. 1410 d. 1461)
Date: c. 1455
Dimensions: 6’10” x 7”
Medium: oil on panel
Current location: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Period: Italian renaissance (quattrocento)
Genre: sacra conversazione

Quick Notes:
  • A sacra conversazione (sacred conversation) is a religious painting in with the Virgin Mary
    and the Christ child are flanked by saints or other important religious figures. The figures
    are posed as if engaging in a conversation, but usually the effect is nominal at best and
    not actually convincing.
  • From left to right, the four saints are Francis, John the Baptist, Zenobius, and Lucy.
  • Veneziano was an innovator in the use of color. Notice the delicate way in which he
    distributes the green and pink pigments evenly across the composition.
  • Like other quattrocento painters, Veneziano favors a symmetrical composition that draws
    attention to the artist’s use of linear perspective.

Suggested Compare-Contrast Target:
  • Titian, Madonna with Members of the Pesaro Family (Pesaro Altarpiece)


Writing Prompts:
  • How did the artist choose which saints to depict in the painting? What symbols allow us
    to identify them?
  • In what ways is this composition typical of the quattrocento style?


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