BELLINI, Giovanni
(b. ca. 1426, Venezia, d. 1516, Venezia)

San Zaccaria Altarpiece (detail)

1505
Oil on canvas, transferred from wood
San Zaccaria, Venice

Painted in beautiful colours, the saints, lost in thought and wrapped in voluminous robes, are depicted standing quietly around the Madonnas throne. This detail shows St Lucy and St Jerome, the scholar who translated the Bible into Latin, and whom Bellini therefore represented as reading a book. St Lucy is represented with the palm of her martyrdom and the small bowl with her eyes.