Restored in 1996 with funding from the Boston Chapter of Save Venice Inc.

Representations of the Coronation of the Virgin held great local significance in Venice since the completion of Guariento’s fresco of 1365 in the Sala del Maggiore Consiglio, the Great Council Hall of the Palazzo Ducale; thereafter the subject remained central to the Venetian Republic’s self-association with the Virgin Mary.

This large panel painting by Antonio Vivarini and his brother-in-law and frequent collaborator Giovanni d’Alemagna reflects the continuing inspiration of Guariento’s great fresco. Originally on the high altar of the church of San Pantalon, it is now to be seen on the left of the presbytery in the Chapel of the Holy Nail. The work’s elaborate architectural structuring of Paradise is notable: its hierarchy of mansions hosts a full audience of prophets and saints that bear witness to the central event, Christ’s crowning of the Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven in the presence of God the Father and the dove of the Holy Spirit.

Executed in the International Gothic style, the work illustrates an important shift in the development of the Venetian altarpiece from the polyptych — an ensemble of many separate panels combined within a frame — to a unified pictorial space depicted on a single panel.

The work was restored by conservator Valentina Piovan, with the guidance of project director Giovanna Nepi Scirè of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Antonio Vivarini (active 1440–1476/84) and Giovanni d’Alemagna (c. 1399–1450)
Coronation of the Virgin
1444, egg tempera and gold on wood panel
230 x 180 cm

Church of San Pantalon: Homepage (in Italian)

Church of San Pantalon: Brochure (in Italian)