( fl 1438; d Florence, bur 15 May 1461). Italian painter. Venetian by birth or descent, he was one of the founders of Renaissance painting in Florence in the first half of the 15th century and the most enigmatic. His training (north Italian or Florentine), the chronology of his few surviving works (his only documented fresco cycle has perished and there is only one major altarpiece) and his relationship to contemporary painters, sculptors and theorists (particularly Alberti) have been debated; they cannot, given the shortage of evidence, be resolved satisfactorily. Yet, despite these difficulties, Domenico’s altarpiece for S Lucia de’ Magnoli in Florence (the St Lucy altarpiece; main panel in Florence, Uffizi), with its ambitious architectural setting, acutely described figures and its pale colours bathed in a convincing outdoor light, would alone assure him a central place in the history of Renaissance art.

• Domenico Veneziano (fl 1438-61)
  • Arezzo
  • Italy, §III, 3(ii)(a): Early Renaissance painting, c 1400–c 1500: Florence
  • Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists, §I: Prato Master
  • attributions
    • Bapteur, Jean
    • Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists, §I: Paris Master
  • collaboration
    • Bicci di Lorenzo, §1(ii): 1430 and after
    • Castagno, Andrea del, §3: Critical reception and posthumous reputation
    • Gentile da Fabriano, §4: Influence, critical reception and posthumous reputation
    • Masolino, §3: Last years, c 1426 and after
    • Piero della Francesca, §I, 1(i): Background and collaborative works
  • methods
    • Colour, §I, 1: Western world: Medieval and Renaissance
    • Florence, §II, 1(ii): Art life and organization, c 1400–c 1530
    • Model, artist’s, §2: 15th century
    • Perspective, §II, 2(i): Linear: Orthodox scientific
    • Pouncing
  • paintings
    • altarpieces
      • Altarpiece, §2(ii)(b): Forms and development: c 1400– c 1600
      • Renaissance, §2: Early Renaissance, c 1300–1450
      • Sacra conversazione
    • frescoes
      • Baldovinetti, Alesso, §1(ii): 1460 and after
      • Castagno, Andrea del, §1(i)(d): Documented and accepted works, 1451–7
      • Perugia
    • religious
      • Franciscan Order, §II, 1: Iconography: St Francis
      • Tondo
  • patrons and collectors
    • Baglioni
    • Carol I, King of Romania
    • Cassone, §1(i): Painted: Florence
    • Lindsay, Alexander
    • Medici, de’: (4) Giovanni de’ Medici
  • pupils
    • Baldovinetti, Alesso, §1(i): Before 1460