MARCO DI PAOLO VENEZIANO (ACTIVE VENICE, PADUA AND TREVISO C. 1350-1393)

Published here for the first time, this beautiful Deposition was identified by Christopher Platts as the work of Marco di Paolo Veneziano (private communication with the department, dated 13 February 2021). The youngest son of Paolo Veneziano, Marco di Paolo was a gifted painter in his own right and by the second half of the Trecento had become the leading artist in Venice. An initial reconstruction of the painter’s oeuvre was first proposed by Miklòs Boskovits and later amplified by Andrea De Marchi (see A. De. Marchi, ‘Una tavola nella Narodna Galeria di Ljubljana e una proposta per Marco di Paolo Veneziano,’ Gotika v Sloveniji, J. Höfler ed., Ljubljiana, 1995, pp. 241-256). Marco di Paolo’s popularity came from his exquisite anecdotal detail and capacity for storytelling. Not only is the execution of this painting typical of his style, with the figures’ incisive drapery folds, angular noses and bright eyes, but it also includes his characteristic halo tooling – a three-dot cluster connected by spirals – which the artist adopted while training in his father’s workshop.

Platts dates the panel between 1360 and 1370, noting its stylistic affinity with the artist’s Crucifixion in the Martello collection, New York (ibid.). Like the Martello Crucifixion, this Deposition would likely have formed part of a larger ensemble with smaller narrative scenes from the Passion of Christ stacked one above the other, two high and two wide, at either side. Platts tentatively proposes the present scene may indeed come from the same complex as the Martello panel, though further research on both panels would be needed to support this appealing hypothesis.

We are grateful to Christopher Platts for proposing the attribution on the basis of photographs and for kindly providing information for the catalogue note.