Santa Giustina
The Early Christian martyr, St. Justine, was stabbed to death in Padova in 304 A.D., so in her ca. 1470 ‘portrait’ by the Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini she is represented with a martyr’s palm in her right hand and a dagger stabbed into her heart. The saint belonged to the Vitaliani family, which merged into that of the Borromeo at the beginning of the 15th century. She is statuesque and characterized by a solemn air of absorption, aspects found in other works of the same period by the artist.
c. 1470
Tempera on panel
129.0 x 55.0cm
Images and text © Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, 2017