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In Venice the late 13th century expressed itself in sculpture not in a classical renascence like that of Tuscany, but in regenerated Byzantinism. One of the most interesting examples of this backward-looking sculpture is a relief of the Dormition of the Virgin on the monument of the Doge Francesco Dandolo in the sacristy of Santa Maria dei Frari (1339). In this the style is in exact conformity with a painted lunette by Paolo Veneziano which was originally set in the upper part of the same tomb.
In the centre of one of the walls of the Chapter Hall, between the two large windows, is the tomb of the Doge Francesco Dandolo (d. 1339). Below the lunette painting by Paolo Veneziano, the Byzantine sarcophagus depicts the death of the Virgin surrounded by the disciples with the Redeemer in the middle carrying Mary's soul in the form of a child in swaddling bands to heaven.
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