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Notes
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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.
Title
Cardinal Bessarion and Two Members of the Scuola della Carità in prayer with the Bessarion Reliquary
Date
about 1472-3
Medium
Egg tempera with gold and silver on panel
Measurements
H 102.3 x W 37.2 cm
Accession number
NG6590
Acquisition method
Bought with the support of a number of gifts in wills, 2002
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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