Madonna and Child enthroned in paradise with the fathers of the church

This one has barely moved in almost 600 years. It was painted in 1446 for the meeting room of the Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità, the confraternity whose building now houses the Accademia itself, so it hangs a few steps from where it was first set up. The Virgin sits crowned on a tall Gothic throne in a walled garden thick with gold and flowers, and around her stand the four Fathers of the Church, each with his emblem, Jerome with a little model church, Gregory with the papal tiara. Giovanni d'Alemagna, a painter of German origin, signed it together with his brother-in-law Antonio Vivarini. Four years later d'Alemagna was dead, and this rich gilded panel is among the last major works the two finished side by side.