Cardinal John Bessarion and Venice

In 1438 Bessarion (1403 - 1472) was sent by the Emperor John VIII Palaeologos to the Council of Ferrara/Florence to plead for western support in Constantinople's final struggle against the Ottoman Turks.
Despite the failure of the council to dispatch aid to Byzantine Empire, Pope Eugenius IV recognised Bessarion's constructive role in the deliberations by making him a cardinal. Bessarion remained in Italy and in 1463 was made Patriarch of Constantinople, by then in Turkish hands, by Pope Pius II.

In July 1463, Pius II sent Bessarion to Venice as legate a latere. In order to win the favour of a city notorious for its reluctance to allow credit to any 'foreign' notable, Bessarion donated his celebrated library of Greek manuscripts to the city, where they became the nucleus of the Biblioteca Marciana. He also took a particular interest in the scuole, in particular the prestigious Scuola di S. Maria dei Battuti della Carita, which enjoyed the patronage of the influential Guardian Grande, Ulisse Aliotti. In August, in the presence of Aliotti, prominent bishops and other assembled grandees, Bessarion presented the Reliquary of the True Cross to the Scuola, reserving its use for his lifetime.

In May 1472, when leaving Rome for France, the Cardinal transferred the precious object to Venice. A letter of 6 July 1472 records the festa on the arrival of the reliquary and the procession marking its translation from San Marco to the Scuola, where it was installed on the altar already prepared for it in the Sala dell' Albergo. Bessarion himself died at Ravenna on 19 November of the same year.

Gentile Bellini's painting Cardinal Bessarion attended by the two brothers of the Scuola della Carita in prayer with the Bessarion reliquary (National Gallery, London) was commissioned by the Guardian Grande, Ulisse Aliotti, in 1472-3 to form the door of the tabernacle that housed the reliquary in the Sala dell' Albergo. The reliquary is still in the Carita, now the Gallerie dell'Accademia, in Venice.

Gentile Bellini

1472-3

Cardinal Bessarion, attended by the two brothers of the Scuola della Carita, in prayer with the Bessarion reliquary

National Gallery

Egg tempera with gold and silver on panel 102.3*37.2 cm

This unusual group portrait was commissioned around 1472 when the Venetian confraternity of the Carità (Charity) received a Byzantine reliquary containing fragments of the True Cross and pieces of Christ's Tunic from the Greek Cardinal Bessarion. Bellini's picture formed the door of the tabernacle in which the reliquary was stored. The keyholes at the right of the painting still bear witness to this function.
The picture is as much a portrait of Bessarion's precious reliquary as of the individuals associated with its gift to the Carità. The swiftly painted scenes of Christ's Passion contrast with the measured portrayals of Cardinal Bessarion and the two confraternity members. Bessarion is identified by his large bulbous nose, while the stern appearance of the Carità members is heightened by their angular features.

'Presented to' the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1952. Restituted to the heirs of Erich Lederer, 2001. Purchased by the National Gallery at Sotheby's for $771,038 in 2001.

National Gallery

Gianetto Cordegliaghi

1540

Cardinal Bessarion and his Reliquary

Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

Cordegliaghi was a pupil of Gentile Bellini. The work was commissioned by the Scuola di Santa Maria della Carita, and was probably based on a lost work by Bellini himself, also commissioned by Ulisse Aliotti in 1472.

The reliquary: details

The reliquary with the cover removed

Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

The reliquary was constructed in three stages. The earliest of these is the 14th century central crucifix (a croceteca) which contains fragments of the True Cross and of Christ's Tunic. It is of silver gilt, and measures 34.5 by 17.5 cm.
Later inscriptions establish that this cross was embellished by order of Irene Paleologa, niece of the Emperor John, and that she presented it to her confessor, Gregory. Gregory took it to Italy and left it to his friend, Cardinal Bessarion, on his death in 1459.
Irene's contribution was to mount the crucifix in a case of gold, measuring 46 x 31 cm., with reliefs of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel above and, flanking the Cross, representations of the Emperor Constantine and his mother, the Empress Helena.
Bessarion himself was responsible, presumably between 1463 and 1472, for the final enrichment of the reliquary, the band of framing at the sides and below, decorated in tempera on gold ground with scenes from the Passion. Into this framing fitted the reliquary cover, an icon of the Crucifixion.

The reliquary cover

2nd half of 14th century

Icon of the Crucifixion

Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

Paint, enamel, precious stones on wood 42*32 cm

The painting forms the sliding lid of the reliquary of the True Cross. It is believed to have been painted in Constantinople in the late 14th century.
The scene of the Crucifixion occurs in an elaborate setting that includes the walls of Jerusalem and the rock of Calvary. On the left of the cross is the Virgin Mary supported by mourning women, while on the right the haloed figures of Saint John and the centurion stand in front of the sponge bearer, Stephaton, and a group usually identified as Jews. In the forground, three soldiers divide Christ's tunic.
Bessarion may have commissioned the silver revetment that covers the sky and adorns the halos of Christ, the Virgin, Saint john and the centurion.