A piece of a fresco of the Giotto School (sec. XV), representing The Virgin Enthroned with Child and Angel (198x125 cm)
A piece of a fresco of the Giotto School originating from the ex-church of St Nicholas, the oldest religious structure in the city officiated until 1211 by the Augustinian Fathers of St Nicholas. The painting shows an new form of expression with regard to that of the stately Byzantine and demonstrates the effects of the latest trends brought in by Giotto, who was in Padova from 1303 to 1305 for his work on the Scrovegni Chapel, above all in relation to the concept of space and the rapport between figures and the space in which they are placed. To this is added an attempt to represent three dimensionality and the plasticity of the human body together with the desire to represent the actual character of the people in the painting.
The face of the Virgin is nevertheless alien to the sacred tone and solemnity of Giotto, in order to express a sense of gentleness and refinement perceivable also on the face of the angel. The fresco was most probably executed in the 15th century by an artist from outside of Venice, with no link to the tastes and decorativeness of Venice in that period, who was strongly influenced by the Giotto School but who however has maintained, especially in the faces, a gentleness and classicality not easily recognisable in the Tuscan tradition.
