Saint Stephen

At the foot of this panel, on a painted slip of paper, a Latin line reads: the vow of Vincenzo Desideri, carried out by the hand of Francia. This was a votive picture, made to fulfil a promise, and the wording suggests a patron in Bologna, Francia's city. Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, kneels in the red robe of a deacon. The stones that killed him lie on the ground beside him, and thin threads of blood run down from his forehead. Those are the only signs of his death. The rest is calm, with a parapet, gilded column bases, water and hills beyond. The museum dates the panel to the later 1480s. In 1891 the Borghese family sold a portrait of Cesare Borgia, then believed to be by Raphael, to Baron Rothschild, and this Saint Stephen was among the works exchanged for it.