Giovanni Bellini, The Man of Sorrows

1472
Ducal Palace, Venice

In keeping with the taste of the times, this imago pietatis emphasizes the violence done to Jesus' body and the anguish of Mary and John. Conventionally the three figures stand before a sarcophagus, but here the author has made it an altar with candlesticks, emphasizing the identity between the sacrifice on Calvary and the one in the Mass.

The piece of paper on the front of the altar bears the artist's signature. The saint on the left is probably Mark. On the right is a bishop saint in green.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.