GUARIENTO d'Arpo
(active 1338-1368 in Padua)

Paradise (fragment)

1365-66
Fresco
Palazzo Ducale, Venice

This fresco was painted for the Hall of the Great Council in the Palazzo Ducale. Almost completely destroyed in the 1577 fire, the remains of the fresco were, in 1903, rediscovered under the large canvas Il Paradiso which Tintoretto was commissioned to paint for the same wall. Guariento's fresco, too, depicts Paradise. In the centre there is an enthroned Virgin being crowned by Christ, while, to far left and right, are aedicule like those from a portico church façade, under which one can see the figures of the Annunciation: the Angel Gabriel on the left, and the Virgin Mary on the right. Angels playing musical instruments surround the central figures and the Evangelists are shown before the throne; saints, prophets and martyrs are depicted alongside in individual stalls with gothic tracery.

The heat of the fire reduced the surviving fragments to a near monochrome, while in places where the plaster has fallen, one can see the red traces of the preliminary drawing.