MANSUETI, Giovanni
(known 1485-1526 in Venice)

Miracle of the Relic of the Holy Cross in Campo San Lio

c. 1494
Tempera on canvas, 318 x 458 cm
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

The Confraternity of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice called upon the most respected Venetian painters of the period, including Pietro Perugino, Vittore Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini, Giovanni Mansueti, Lazzaro Bastiani and Benedetto Diana to paint nine canvases for the Great Hall of their headquarters showing the Miracles of the Holy Cross, the story of the miracles performed by the fragment of wood from the Cross on which Jesus was crucified. This fragment had been donated to the brotherhood in 1369 by Philip de Mezières, Chancellor of the Kingdom of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and had soon become an object of great veneration and the symbol of the Scuola, one of the most important and wealthy Venetian confraternities.

The canvas painted by Perugino has been lost, but the eight surviving paintings executed between 1496 and 1501, contain depictions of some of the most famous parts of Venice. Since the imposing series of pictures (known as 'teleri') are all in the Accademia now it is easy to compare them.

This canvas deals with a miraculous event which took place in 1474 during the funeral of a member of the Confraternity who had not believed firmly in the relic of the Holy Cross during his life. The reliquary containing the sacred fragment was taken to the funeral in the church of S. Lio but in the square outside the church it became so heavy that it could not be carried over the threshold. Another cross had therefore to be used while the one containing the Holy relic was entrusted to the care of the parish priest of S. Lio. The presentation of Campo S. Lio is rather static and analytical, the figural rhythms monotonous and the colouring somewhat lacking in richness and interest, but the picture is nevertheless valuable for the evidence it offers of the architecture and costumes of the time.