Antonio Vivarini, who operates a successful family workshop of painters in Venice, uses the vitreous, enameled colors of Venetian glass in his early Madonnas, like the one painted around 1440 for the Oratorio dei Filippini in Padua.

The figures in this and other early works by Antonio, symbols of divine splendor, show no attempt at naturalness.

He initially trained with Andrea da Murano, and his works show the influence of Gentile da Fabriano.

The earliest known date of a picture of his, an altarpiece in the Accademia, is 1440.