The major contribution of the Italian painter Domenico Veneziano (ca. 1410-1461) to early Renaissance painting was his subtle observation of the reaction of colors to conditions of natural light.

Domenico Veneziano (Dominic, the Venetian) whose full name was Domenico di Bartolomeo da Venezia, which means Dominic (son of) Bartholomew from Venice, was originally from Venice, as his name indicates, but he worked in Florence for most of his life. His date of birth is uncertain but can be approximated through stylistic comparisons with his better-documented contemporaries, such as Fra Filippo Lippi and Andrea del Castagno.

Much uncertainty remains among scholars about the beginnings and the chronology of Domenico's art. In 1438 he wrote a letter to Piero de' Medici asking for work and mentioning Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi. This shows that Domenico was well versed in Florentine artistic affairs and leads to the assumption that he might have...