Domenico Veneziano (c. 1410 – May 15, 1461) was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
painter of the early
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
, active mostly in
PerugiaPerugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the Tiber River, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city symbol is the griffin, which can be seen in the form of plaques and statues on buildings around the city.Perugia is a notable artistic center of Italy...
and
TuscanyTuscany is a region in North-Central Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy...
.
Little is known of his birth, though he is thought to have been born in Venice, hence his last name. He then moved to Florence in 1422-23 as a boy, to become a pupil of
Gentile da FabrianoGentile da Fabriano was an Italian painter known for his participation in the International Gothic style.Gentile was born in or near Fabriano, in the Marche. His mother died some time before 1380 and his father, Niccolò di Giovanni Massi, retired to a monastery in the same year, where he died in...
. He is said to have worked with
PisanelloPisanello , known professionally as Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento...
in Rome around 1423-1430. One can see the influence of
Benozzo GozzoliBenozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. He is best known for a series of murals in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi depicting festive, vibrant processions with wonderful attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence.-Apprenticeship:He was born Benozzo di...
in his work.
In a letter from him to Piero de' Medici, dated from Perugia in 1438, where he likewise resided for many years, he mentions his long connection with the fortunes of the Medici family, and begs to be allowed to paint an altar-piece for the head of that house.
Domenico Veneziano (c. 1410 – May 15, 1461) was an
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
painter of the early
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
, active mostly in
PerugiaPerugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the Tiber River, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city symbol is the griffin, which can be seen in the form of plaques and statues on buildings around the city.Perugia is a notable artistic center of Italy...
and
TuscanyTuscany is a region in North-Central Italy. It has an area of and a population of about 3.6 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence.Tuscany is known for its landscapes and its artistic legacy...
.
Little is known of his birth, though he is thought to have been born in Venice, hence his last name. He then moved to Florence in 1422-23 as a boy, to become a pupil of
Gentile da FabrianoGentile da Fabriano was an Italian painter known for his participation in the International Gothic style.Gentile was born in or near Fabriano, in the Marche. His mother died some time before 1380 and his father, Niccolò di Giovanni Massi, retired to a monastery in the same year, where he died in...
. He is said to have worked with
PisanelloPisanello , known professionally as Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento...
in Rome around 1423-1430. One can see the influence of
Benozzo GozzoliBenozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. He is best known for a series of murals in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi depicting festive, vibrant processions with wonderful attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence.-Apprenticeship:He was born Benozzo di...
in his work.
In a letter from him to Piero de' Medici, dated from Perugia in 1438, where he likewise resided for many years, he mentions his long connection with the fortunes of the Medici family, and begs to be allowed to paint an altar-piece for the head of that house. He was a contemporary with
Fra AngelicoFra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter, referred to in Vasari's Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"....
and Fra Filippo Lippi, since those two artists and himself are known to have valued the frescoes of Buonfigli at Perugia. Between 1439 and 1441 he painted his masterpiece of the
Adoration of the Magi.
One masterpiece is considered to be the
St. Lucy Altarpiece (1445), originally in the Santa Lucia dei Magnoli in
FlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence...
but has been moved to the
UffiziThe Uffizi Gallery , is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world. It's housed in the Palazzo degli Uffizi, a palazzo in Florence, Italy.-History:...
. The painting, tempera on panel, displays such an unusual palette for this period that Vasari wrote that it had been painted in oil. He is also known for a round panel of the
Adoration of the Magi (1439-1441) which was probably commissioned for the palace of the wealthy
MediciThe House of Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house who first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside, gradually rising until...
family and now in Berlin. He influenced
Andrea MantegnaAndrea Mantegna was a North Italian Renaissance painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son in law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g., by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality...
.
Vasari alleged that Veneziano was murdered by
Andrea del CastagnoAndrea del Castagno or Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla was an Italian painter from Florence, influenced chiefly by Tommaso Masaccio and Giotto di Bondone. His works include frescoes in Sant'Apollonia in Florence and the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino in the Cathedral in Florence....
. However, Castagno died c. 1457, four years before Veneziano.
He worked at the decorations of the Portinari chapel in Santa Maria Novella in Florence from 1439-1445, and had as his assistants
Piero della FrancescaPiero della Francesca was an Italian artist of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries, he was known as a mathematician and geometer as well as an artist, though now he is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its serene humanism and its use of geometric forms,...
and
Bicci di LorenzoBicci di Lorenzo was an Italian painter and sculptor, active in Florence.He was born in Florence in 1373, the son of the painter, Lorenzo di Bicci, whose workshop he joined. He married in 1418, and in 1424 was registered in the Guild of Painters at Florence. His son, Neri di Bicci was also a...
. It is certain that whilst employed there he used linseed oil as his medium, since the hospital books of that dato make many allusions to this item in his expenses. His latter days were spent in Florence, where he died on 15 May 1461, .