Restored in 1976 with funding from the former New Orleans Chapter of Save Venice Inc. and again in 2008 with funding from the Young Friends of Save Venice, Boston Chapter.

This painting is thought to have originally adorned a fifteenth-century altar owned by the Morosini family in the church of San Francesco della Vigna. Executed by the painter Antonio Falier da Negroponte during the 1460s, the altarpiece depicts the Virgin Mary seated upon an elaborately carved marble throne as she adores the Christ Child, who rests in her lap as four angels look on. The setting is enriched by the lush rose arbor that extends behind the throne, the decorative garland that forms an arch above it, and the many different species of birds that are depicted among the wildflowers in the foreground.

The church was demolished in 1509 to make way for a rebuilding campaign, which would eventually begin in 1534 under the direction of architect and sculptor Jacopo Sansovino, and completed with a façade designed by Andrea Palladio in 1564. During this period of renovation, the painting was adapted to fit a new chapel and altar within the Renaissance church.

One striking hypothesis that was recently advanced is that the work may originally have been the central panel of a triptych consisting of three individual panel paintings installed side-by-side, of which the two lateral wings have since been lost. This idea is supported by evidence revealed during conservation that the original panel was enlarged and partially repainted in a sixteenth-century style that aligns with the years in which the church was rebuilt.

The original pictorial support is composed of three vertical wooden planks. In order to extend the dimensions of the altarpiece so that it would fit its new marble frame, two lateral planks were added, and were skillfully painted to enlarge the throne and the floral background of the pictorial scene; a lunette-shaped plank was added to the top of the altarpiece as well, which bears an image of God the Father in glory, together with the dove of the Holy Spirit.

Scholars consider the phrase “ordis minorum,” which refers to the community of Franciscan Friars at San Francesco della Vigna, to have been added during this intervention to the scroll in the foreground, which already contained the artist’s signature: “Frater Antonius de Nigroponto pincsit,” or Brother Antonio of Negroponte painted [this]. Antonio Falier da Negroponte is an enigmatic artist, and this is his only known painting.

The 1976 restoration was undertaken by conservator Antonio Lazzarin, with the guidance of project director Francesco Valcanover of the Superintendency of Monuments of Venice. The 2008 restoration in turn was overseen by project director Emanuela Zucchetta of the Superintendency of Monuments of Venice, while Stefano Volpin was responsible for scientific testing and Andrea Libralesso for the conservation of the painting.

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 Falier da Negroponte (active c. 1450s-70s)
Madonna and Child
c. 1460s (with modifications in the 1530s), tempera and oil on panel
300 x 235 cm

Eisler, Colin, and Caroline Kelly. “Fra Antonio Falier Da Negroponte’s ‘Madonna’ and the First Venetian Imperial Style.” Artibus et Historiae 37, no. 73 (2016): 71–89.