Retable Barbarigo

Giovanni Bellini painted this in 1488 for the Doge of Venice, Agostino Barbarigo, who kneels at the right before the Virgin and Child. Agostino had taken the dogeship after his brother Marco died, and there were whispers around Venice that he had helped his brother to the grave. Pictures like this were part of his answer. Instead of being presented to the Virgin by his own name-saint, as was normal, he is introduced by Saint Mark, patron of Venice and also his dead brother's namesake, a quiet public claim to be Marco's loyal heir rather than his rival. The Doge does not look at the holy figures beside him but out toward the Venetians walking past the altar. On his death in 1501 he left the picture to a convent on the island of Murano, and it was later moved to the nearby church of San Pietro Martire, where it hangs today.