Sacra Conversazione with donors
Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, 1515
The painting gathers the Virgin and Child with several saints in what is known as a sacra conversazione, an arrangement in which holy figures seem to share a quiet, unified space. Sebastian, John the Baptist, Francis of Assisi and Jerome are among those present, while at the bottom centre appear the donors, a husband and wife who commissioned the work; the husband may have been painted after his death. The saints are arranged in two groups of three, which gives the composition balance without stiffness. The picture was once attributed to Cima da Conegliano, but it is now thought to be the work of an artist in the circle of Giovanni Bellini, a reminder that the authorship of many Venetian paintings is still being revised. Its interest lies largely in the blend of devotion, patron portraiture and attention to light and colour typical of the Venetian Renaissance.
- Painter
- Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano
- Date
- 1515
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 159 × 215 cm
- Museum
- Fogg Museum, Cambridge
- Genre
- religious art
- Depicts
- Saint Sebastian, boy, Mary, John the Baptist, Jerome, woman, Francis of Assisi, mother
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