Saint Mark Baptising Anianus

In 1806 the Napoleonic government closed the great confraternities of Venice, and the paintings in their meeting halls were dispersed. By 1809 this canvas was in Milan, capital of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, where the new picture gallery at Brera opened that year. It came from the albergo, the board room, of the Scuola Grande di San Marco. Around 1518 the brotherhood asked Mansueti for two scenes there from the story of Anianus, the man Saint Mark converted in Alexandria. The first, Mark healing him, stayed in Venice and hangs today in the Gallerie dell'Accademia. This one is the sequel, Mark baptising his new follower. Seen apart, the two hardly read as a pair. The Venice healing is nearly square, close to four metres each way, while this is a tall strip over three metres high and only 1.35 wide. Gentile Bellini's great Preaching of Saint Mark, painted for the same room, also ended up at Brera, and Mansueti signed this canvas in Latin capitals as Joannes de Mansuetis.