12024-02-21T19:12:36-08:00Thomas Leimkuhler8cec613fbab5840a56df4d7b61b210aed2f2bcaa444042Early 1300's, Venetianplain2024-02-28T12:32:40-08:00Thomas Leimkuhler8cec613fbab5840a56df4d7b61b210aed2f2bcaaIt is unknown who made this painting. Painting in the Venetian Republic first became popular in the 14th century when Paolo Veneziano founded the Venetian school of painting. Veneziano is known for introducing the “composite altarpiece” of many small scenes within an elaborate gilded frame. While it can not be said if Veneziano painted The Last Judgment, since the painting depicts a biblical scene within a gilded frame it can be seen that perhaps the artist of The Last Judgment was in some way connected to Veneziano whether they were a student or related in some other way. While it is unfortunate that the artist of this painting is unknown, it may be possible with further research to discover the artist by looking at the gold leaf panel on the frame. “Gold leaf was small, thin, square sheets of gold used in paintings created throughout the Italian peninsula during the 14th and 15th century. Gold was prized for the embellishments of works of art for a variety of factors including its preciousness, related symbolic connotations of divinity, and aesthetic appeal”. An important detail about the gold leaf panel is that through the use of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, art historians were able to determine that the amount of overlap in gold leaf panels differed depending on the artist, and that the degree of overlap was consistent within artists. This means that by looking at the gold leaf panel in The Last Judgment and comparing it to other Italian paintings with gold leaf panels, it may be possible to better determine where this painting is from and who the author is.
