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Gentile Bellini, 'Cardinal Bessarion with the Bessarion Reliquary', about 1472-3

About the work

The figure in black is the Greek archbishop John Bessarion. In 1453, after the fall of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine (Eastern Christian) Empire, to the Islamic Ottoman Empire, Bessarion became a permanent resident in Venice. He joined the Scuola della Carità, a religious confraternity, ten years later; the two men in white robes here are high-ranking members of that confraternity.

The men are worshipping a reliquary which Bessarion donated to the confraternity in the hope that it would inspire western Christians to help Greek Christians after the fall of Constantinople. Reliquaries were made to hold relics – in this case two fragments thought to come from the Cross that Christ was crucified on, as well as two scraps of fabric which supposedly came from his garments. The painting was made as a decorated door panel for the tabernacle that contained the reliquary.

Key facts

Full title
Cardinal Bessarion and Two Members of the Scuola della Carità in prayer with the Bessarion Reliquary
Artist
Gentile Bellini
Artist dates
active about 1460; died 1507
Date made
about 1472-3
Medium and support
egg tempera on wood
Dimensions
102.3 × 37.2 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought with the support of a number of gifts in wills, 2002
Inventory number
NG6590
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
20th-century Replica Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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