CIRCLE OF GIOVANNI BELLINI (VENICE C. 1431/36-1516)

In early sixteenth century Venice, images of Christ Blessing, or as Salvator Mundi, were remarkably popular. Invariably Christ was shown frontally, bust-length, his right hand raised in blessing, and sometimes with an orb held in his left, a symbol of his rule on earth, against a dark background. Such images had proliferated in the fifteenth century, especially in the Netherlands and Germany. Venice’s key position as a trading power most likely aided the dissemination of this iconography throughout Italy, where a key early example of Christ Blessing was made by Antonello da Messina in 1465 (London, National Gallery). Over the subsequent decades the subject was taken up by numerous artists working in and around the Veneto, with Jacopo de’ Barbari, Vittore Carpaccio, Giovanni Bellini and their followers reworking and reinterpreting such images of Christ in response no doubt to a greater demand for such powerful devotional pictures. The very fine drawing and delicate handling of this panel points to an artist in Bellini’s circle, perhaps close to Francesco Bissolo.