Restored in 2001 with funding from Stephanie, Paul Jr., and Deirdre Wallace through the Wallace Family Foundation.

Paolo Veneziano is the first-named painter to emerge from medieval anonymity in Venice. His painting for the tomb of Francesco Dandolo (reigned 1329–1339) is one of the few remaining examples of his work in its original location. Thought to be the earliest painted portrait of a Doge — and one of the earliest Venetian portraits in any medium — it established the prototype of the ducal votive picture. Placing the Doge, as the representative of the Venetian state, before the Madonna and Child would become a standard formula of official pictorial celebration.

In Paolo’s painting, Francesco Dandolo kneels humbly before the enthroned Madonna and Child, his nobility signaled by the spurs prominently revealed beneath his robe, and his station by the corno ducale, the unmistakable Doge’s cap. The Virgin Mary is set against a golden cloth of honor that is held up by four angels, and she wears a brilliant blue mantle embroidered in gold. The Doge is presented directly to the infant Jesus by his name-saint, Saint Francis; on the right, his wife, Elisabetta Contarini, is presented to Mary by her patron, Saint Elizabeth of Portugal.

Although it is situated in the chapter house of the Franciscans, Dandolo’s tomb was intended to be an official state monument; his will instructed that it should be “an honorable and worthy tomb, with as little pomp and vanity as possible, except for what is proper for the honor of Venice.” Paolo’s lunette painting is set above a sarcophagus, whose narrative carving was originally polychrome, and beneath an arched canopy whose spandrels once featured winged figures and angels, signaling victory over death.

The work was restored by conservator Egidio Arlango, with the guidance of project director Fiorella Spadavecchia 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.

Paolo Veneziano (c. 1300 – c. 1362)
Votive Picture of Doge Francesco Dandolo
1339, egg tempera on wood
170 x 240 cm

Basilica dei Frari: Homepage

Chorus Association: Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Muraro, Michelangelo. Paolo da Venezia. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1970

Pincus, Debra. The Tombs of the Doges of Venice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000