Coronation of the Virgin

Michele Giambono's Coronation of the Virgin, painted around 1448 and now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, is one of the key works by this Venetian master who represents the tenacious survival of the International Gothic style in Venice well into the mid-fifteenth century. While Donatello's presence in Padua and the influence of Mantegna were already pushing the Veneto toward Renaissance spatial thinking, Giambono — who also worked in San Marco's mosaic tradition — maintained an extraordinarily refined Late Gothic manner characterized by elegant line, elaborate gold toolwork, and courtly delicacy.

Tempera on panel with extensive gold ground and elaborate punched tooling. The figures display the elongated, swaying elegance characteristic of International Gothic Venetian painting, quite distinct from the more volumetric Florentine approach of the same decade.