DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61542#0170
i34 DOMENICO VENEZIANO [I4OO.
perspective, all prove how attentively Domenico had
studied the works of Masaccio and the Naturalist
painters. The figures cannot be said to attain Paolo
Uccello’s perfection of structure and balance, nor are
the heads as full of individual character as those of
Andrea del Castagno, but the colouring is bright and
attractive, and in the delicate profile of Santa Lucia,
in the simple pose of the Virgin and natural atti-
tude of the Child, standing on his Mother’s knee
and turning round to look at the Baptist, we recog-
nise something of Fra Angelico’s charm. The whole
work is one of great interest, revealing, as it does, a
tenderness of feeling and a grace that go far to ex-
plain the high degree of reputation which Domenico
enjoyed in Florence. The predella of this picture,
described by Lanzi, and representing the Martyrdom
of S. Lucia, with a king who appears to direct
the execution from a balcony above, is now at
Berlin.
Another characteristic work is the fresco which
this artist painted for a Tabernacle at the corner of
two streets leading to S. Maria Novella, and which,
after being removed from the wall and transferred to
canvas in 1851, is now in the National Gallery. Here
the fair-haired Virgin, seated on a throne in a flowery
meadow, with the Child on her knee lifting his hand in
blessing, and God the Father and the Dove of the
Holy Ghost above, resembles the Madonna of S.
Lucia in type and feature, while the keen, thoughtful
heads of the Dominican friars below are full of
character. Closely related to these is the fresco of
the Baptist and St. Francis, in Santa Croce, two noble
types of ascetic holiness and fervent devotion. A
perspective, all prove how attentively Domenico had
studied the works of Masaccio and the Naturalist
painters. The figures cannot be said to attain Paolo
Uccello’s perfection of structure and balance, nor are
the heads as full of individual character as those of
Andrea del Castagno, but the colouring is bright and
attractive, and in the delicate profile of Santa Lucia,
in the simple pose of the Virgin and natural atti-
tude of the Child, standing on his Mother’s knee
and turning round to look at the Baptist, we recog-
nise something of Fra Angelico’s charm. The whole
work is one of great interest, revealing, as it does, a
tenderness of feeling and a grace that go far to ex-
plain the high degree of reputation which Domenico
enjoyed in Florence. The predella of this picture,
described by Lanzi, and representing the Martyrdom
of S. Lucia, with a king who appears to direct
the execution from a balcony above, is now at
Berlin.
Another characteristic work is the fresco which
this artist painted for a Tabernacle at the corner of
two streets leading to S. Maria Novella, and which,
after being removed from the wall and transferred to
canvas in 1851, is now in the National Gallery. Here
the fair-haired Virgin, seated on a throne in a flowery
meadow, with the Child on her knee lifting his hand in
blessing, and God the Father and the Dove of the
Holy Ghost above, resembles the Madonna of S.
Lucia in type and feature, while the keen, thoughtful
heads of the Dominican friars below are full of
character. Closely related to these is the fresco of
the Baptist and St. Francis, in Santa Croce, two noble
types of ascetic holiness and fervent devotion. A