DAVIDE GASPAROTTO: Hello, everyone.
My name is Davide Gasparotto and I
am the senior curator of paintings
here at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Paolo Veneziano, Art and Devotion in 14th century
Venice, is a focused exhibition, which
explores some key aspects of the production of Paolo Veneziano,
the major artistic personality active in Venice
in the 14th century.
Paolo Veneziano elevated the art of painting in his native city
to new heights as master of the premier painter's workshop
in Venice. And he's considered today
the father of the glorious Venetian school of painting.
His career coincided also with one
of the most prosperous periods in Venice's history.
Already possessed of a centuries-old dominion
over trade and pilgrimage routes in the Eastern Mediterranean,
the Venetian Republic's political and military power
continued to rise during Paolo's lifetime.
For Paolo, as for many medieval artists,
painting was a family business.
His father and elder brother were both painters,
as were at least three of his sons.
Paolo's workshop undertook commissions
from numerous prominent civic and religious institutions,
from Venice and its surroundings,
to other regions of the Italian peninsula,
and across the Adriatic Sea.
His workshop's output was broad, ranging
from monumental complexes for public display
to small refined objects for personal contemplation,
and from ephemeral festive decorations
to designs from embroideries and mosaics.
The cornerstones of the exhibition
are the Getty's small but highly refined
panels depicting the Annunciation
and the large and sumptuous panel
with the Coronation of the Virgin
from the Frick Collection in New York.
The Frick painting was the centerpiece
of a large-scale altarpiece executed for the Dominican
church in the Italian town of San Severino
Marche in central Italy, while the Getty panels formed
the cusps of the wings of a small triptych
for personal devotion.
Curators Laura Llewellyn and John Witty,
together with conservators and scientists,
meticulously examined these two works
in the context of Paolo's overall body of work
and Venetian 14th century visual culture,
offering new insights into Paolo's practice
and accomplishment.
For this occasion, we have exceptionally reassembled one
of Paolo's triptychs, reuniting two small panels from the Getty
with a series of panels from the Worcester Art Museum
and the National Gallery of Art, Washington,
which were separated long ago and dispersed in the art market
of the early 20th century.
The triptych reconstructed at the center of this gallery
is a rare example of Paolo Veneziano's production
of relatively small-scale paintings
intended for personal prayer.
Portable devotional triptychs— self-supporting
with closable shutters— enjoyed a remarkable success in Venice
throughout the 14th century, and seems
to have been invented in Paolo's workshop.
A complete example still survives
in the National Gallery of Parma in Italy,
and it was the basis for the reconstruction
of the dispersed panels presented here
at the center of the gallery.
What survives of the fragmentary triptych
shows almost exactly the same arrangement and subject matter
as the intact version in Parma.
In both, narrative scenes are combined with iconic depictions
of saints.
The archangel Gabriel kneels in the upper left
pinnacle announcing to the Virgin Mary, who
is seated in the pinnacle opposite,
that she will bear the Son of God.
In the crucifixion scene above, the Virgin
appears as witness to Christ's death on the cross.
The lower parts of the movable wings
show seven saints, each identifiable by the objects
they hold and by an inscription.
The empty space was originally probably showing
an image of the Virgin and Child,
like in the example from Parma.
In this short animation that we created for the exhibition,
you can see how the triptych originally worked.
While the narrative scenes and figures on the triptych's
interior appear in front of a gold background,
the saints on the exterior of the shutters
stand against the color red.
Paolo deliberately used this color scheme
to indicate that these saints are
lower in the religious hierarchy than those on the interior.
In contrast to the pristinely preserved interior,
the painted exterior of the shutters
have sustained significant damage, now expertly restored
by conservators in Worcester.
This indicates that the triptych was likely kept closed
for much of its history, which protected the internal elements
but left the exterior exposed.
We know nothing about the patrons
of these sophisticated objects.
However, the privileged position of St. Francis
of Assisi to the Virgin's right likely
indicates a patron affiliated with the Franciscan order.
We don't know why Paolo decided to replicate
an earlier triptych.
It may be that the patron of the first version
was a person of considerable status,
with whom the patron of the second wished to be associated.
Paolo Veneziano was also instrumental
in establishing Venice's reputation
as a leading center for the production of painted
altarpieces.
Such works— typically large scale and structurally complex—
were the product of collaboration
between different specialists, painters, carpenters, carvers,
and gilders.
The two panels from the Frick Collection
and the Norton Simon Museum that feature the Virgin Mary
are fragments from such a large altarpiece and ensemble.
They were originally the central element
of multiple-paneled complexes, and were
both painted for patrons beyond the city of Venice.
The large panel of Virgin and Child from the Norton Simon
Museum in Pasadena may have first stood
in the parish church of Grisolet, near San Dona di
Piave, a small town outside Venice.
Decked with precious stones, pearls, and opulent garments,
the Virgin Mary is seated on a broad throne.
She steadies the Christ child, who stands on her knee.
Their hands come together at the center of her body,
as the infant reaches for a goldfinch— a symbol of Christ's
future passion.
Christ's driving legs and small billowing
cape convey a childish restlessness
that contrasts with his mother's solemn monumentality.
Behind them, a cloth of orange damask
is tied to the corners of the throne,
creating curved swags of fabric that equal the rounded
contours in the upper frame.
The Coronation of the Virgin at the Frick
was originally the centerpiece of
a large and elaborate altarpiece executed for the Dominican
Church of Santa Maria Del Mercado
in the small town of San Severino
Marche in central Italy.
Other panels from the same altarpiece
with figures of saints are today still visible in the museum
at San Severino.
Witnessed by a host of music-making angels,
Christ crowns his mother, the Virgin Mary,
as Queen of Heaven.
The symbols under their feet reflect Biblical traditions
that characterize Mary as the moon and Christ as the sun.
Together with the architectural throne and the angels'
instruments, the array of sumptuous textiles
was lifted from Paolo's visual environment.
They reflect specific woven silks
that were traded through Venice, an example of which,
from the collection of the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New
York, is displayed nearby.
The Coronation of the Virgin is Paolo's last known work.
Below the steps, an inscription showing the date 1358,
and the signature declares, Paolo, with Giovannino his son,
painted this work.
As a group, the altarpiece fragments and the smaller
triptychs for personal devotion, displayed here,
demonstrated the range of Paolo's clientele,
the reach of his renown, and the diversity, sophistication,
and ambition of his artistic production.