Restored in 2019-20 with funding from Charles Tolbert, in loving memory of Fredrina Tolbert.

The Ferrara-born artist Boccaccio Boccaccino worked in Venice between 1500 and 1506, and was greatly influenced by the Venetian artists with whom he came into contact; these included Giovanni Bellini, the Vivarini, and Cima da Conegliano, whose inspiration is apparent in this small devotional image of the Virgin and Child.

Probably originally intended for a private home, this small devotional painting now hangs on the wall behind the magistrates’ desk in the Room of the Inquisitors in the Palazzo Ducale, which is graced by a painted ceiling by Jacopo Tintoretto that was restored by Save Venice in 2018.

In Boccaccino’s painting, the Madonna looks out at the observer while cradling her infant son. The Christ Child gazes toward the heavens, his arms crossed upon his chest in a gesture that suggests reverence. On the left, we are offered a glimpse onto a landscape with trees and distant mountains that fade into soft tones of blue along the horizon. Boccaccino’s painting is an adaption of one of Giovanni Bellini’s most popular devotional formulas of the late fifteenth century. The work is similar to other panel paintings by Boccaccino in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Museo Correr in Venice.

During Save Venice’s 2018 conservation of Jacopo Tintoretto’s painted ceiling in the Room of the Inquisitors in Palazzo Ducale, conservators observed that Boccaccino’s Virgin and Child hanging over the magistrates’ desk in the same room was suffering from severe condition problems.

Due to the delicate condition of the painting’s wooden structure, it was restored on-site in the Palazzo Ducale in order to keep the work in the microclimate to which it is acclimated as to not aggravate its condition further. Following treatment to eliminate an infestation of wood-boring insects, conservator Gea Storace of the COREST firm meticulously thinned and removed oxidized varnish and surface grime, and secured areas of lifting and flaking paint.  Panel painting specialist Roberto Saccuman repaired the wooden support backing, reinforcing areas that had been particularly damaged, and installed a new support system to help prevent future cracking and splitting.  Storace completed the treatment, expertly integrating small cracks and surface losses with conservation paints and applying a final layer of protective varnish on Boccaccino’s 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.

Boccaccio Boccaccino (c. 1466–1525)
Virgin and Child
c. 1500-1506, tempera and oil on wood panel
61.5 x 50 cm
Palazzo Ducale, Room of the Inquisitors

Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace)