Saints Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist

This panel depicting Saints Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist by Paolo Veneziano, the founding figure of the Venetian school of painting, represents the transition from Byzantine to Gothic style in fourteenth-century Venice. Paolo, active from the 1330s through the 1360s, synthesized the gold-ground icon tradition of Byzantium with the emerging naturalism and decorative elegance of Western Gothic art. The pairing of these two saints suggests the panel originally formed part of a larger polyptych altarpiece.

Executed in egg tempera and gold leaf on panel, the two saints are rendered with Paolo Veneziano's distinctive fusion of Byzantine frontal solemnity and Gothic linear grace. Rich, jewel-toned colors and elaborate textile patterns in the drapery reflect Venice's position as a crossroads of Eastern and Western artistic traditions.