The Venetian School of painting—it had to begin somewhere and scholars point to Paolo Veneziano, whom some call “the most important Venetian painter of the 14th century.” He was born into a family of painters, and is known for his development of the composite altarpiece, those church panels that tell biblical stories haloed in gold leaf. Veneziano’s vision was rendered in a Byzantine style, but he had absorbed elements of Gothic art and his work influenced a raft of young Renaissance masters. This exhibition examines Veneziano’s religious iconography, and lets his paintings shine a light on 14th-century Venice. —E.C.