Year c. 1445–1447 Artist Domenico Veneziano Created 1445–1447 Media Paint, Canvas | Medium Tempera on panel Location Uffizi Gallery Genre Christian art | |
 | ||
Dimensions 210 cm × 215 cm (83 in × 85 in) Periods Italian Renaissance, Renaissance, Early renaissance, Gothic art Similar Domenico Veneziano artwork, Artwork at Uffizi Gallery, Christian art | ||
The Santa Lucia de' Magnoli Altarpiece (Italian: Pala di Santa Lucia de' Magnoli) is a painting by the Italian painter Domenico Veneziano, dated to around 1445–1447. Once placed at the high altar of the church of Santa Lucia dei Magnoli, Florence, it is now in the Uffizi Gallery in the same city. The large panel had originally a predella, which has been divided between museums in Washington, Berlin and Cambridge.
It has been described as "almost certainly ... the first true sacra conversazione", or painting of the Virgin and Child with saints on a unified scale and sharing the same space.
Description
The painting is one of the earliest known examples of tabula quadrata et sine civoriis as suggested by Brunelleschi, which meant a "modern" type of painting without the inner frames and the gilded background which was typical of earlier painting. The setting is however reminiscent of the frames, with three ogival arches, the columns and the shell-shaped niches. The polychrome floor, and the architecture, including the base of the Madonna's throne, is depicted with the use of geometrical perspective, an innovation introduced in Italian early Renaissance art.
The saints portrayed are St. John the Baptist and St. Zenobius (patron saints of Florence), St. Lucy (titular of the church where the painting was situated) and St. Francis, who resided in the church at his arrival in Florence in 1211. The garments and the mitre of St. Zenobius are particularly rich, with precious stones, pearls, golden plaques and enamels.
The predella included panels with scenes of the saints of the main composition, and a central, double-size Annunciation: the Stygmata of St. Francis and John Baptist in the Desert are currently in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Annunciation and The Miracle of St. Zenobius are in the Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge, and the Martyrdom of St. Lucy is in the Berlin State Museums.