The Madonna of Humility with Saint Dominic and another male saint

This picture is an excellent example of the sophisticated artistic milieu in Venice at the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the International Gothic style pervaded the city. A major protagonist of this period was Jacobello del Fiore, who began his career working in an elegant and mannered style much indebted to the Byzantinizing aesthetic of Paolo Veneziano, but moved towards a more Gothic and decorative naturalism in the second decade of the century. After 1410, Jacobello became engaged in the decoration of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Doge’s Palace in Venice, a major decorative cycle that attracted artists from throughout the Italian peninsula. There, Jacobello worked alongside painters such as Pisanello, Gentile da Fabriano and possibly Michelino da Besozzo, the three pioneers of the International Gothic style in Italy.

This depiction of the Madonna of Humility uses the rich colours and gold decoration so typical of the Venetian late Gothic style. The iconography allowed the painter to indulge in the naturalistic description of the grass and the flowers, beautifully observed in all their details.