In 1525 Marcantonio Michiel, a Venetian nobleman with a passion for the arts,[1] saw the altarpiece from which these two panels were taken—a polyptych of the Madonna of the Rose—in the church of Santi Stefano e Domenico, Bergamo.[2] Central to the multi-panel polyptych is the rosary, a symbol of the Virgin which was a very popular theme, particularly loved by the Dominicans. Both panels would have been situated at the left, in the lower of the two registers of the altarpiece. Eight other panels from the altarpiece are known.[3]

While the saints are shown with their individual iconographic symbols, all have the same rich gold halo, the edges of which are discreetly decorated with a scalloped pattern. Another element that unites the panels is the bright glowing blue of the sky that appears in each rounded arch. In the lower register each saint stands before a shingle or brick wall. White roses also appear in the background of several of these paintings of saints, a reference to the Madonna of the Rose, the rosary itself, and white for Mary’s purity.

Ambrogio Bergognone’s depiction of Saint Martha, or Martha of Bethany, is rare. As the patron saint of domestic labourers and housewives she is often represented carrying out household duties; here Bergognone has painted Martha as an older woman wearing a yellow cowl around her bowed head. For the portrayal with a dragon Bergognone has taken inspiration from the bestselling Medieval tales of the saints, The golden legend. Following the death of Christ, Martha, with her sister Mary Magdalene and brother Lazarus, travelled to Marseilles in France. There she rescued the people of Aix from a dragon by sprinkling it with holy water.[4] Martha holds a brass aspersory and uses the branch in her right hand as an aspergillum to sprinkle holy water onto the serpent writhing under her foot. Bergognone carefully renders the beast’s scaly underbelly and echoes the coiled tail in his rendering of the folds of the saint’s mantle.

With the panel of Saint John the Evangelist, Bergognone opted for a more traditional representation. One of the first apostles, said to be a favourite of Jesus, Saint John is shown as young and beardless, holding a book in his left hand and a pen in his right. These are attributes of writers, of whom John is the patron saint. John the Evangelist (or John the Apostle) was believed to be the author of biblical epistles and revelations as well as the Gospel of Saint John. Under a bright red mantle he wears a long white tunic, possibly an alb, a liturgical vestment. The bird at Saint John’s feet should be an eagle, a common attribute of the saint. Instead Bergognone has painted a bird that more closely resembles a raven or crow. Traditionally a bad omen due to its colouring, the raven also has been known to symbolise wisdom. As the bird has a halo similar to the saint, there is certainly no negative implication.

Simeran Maxwell

[1]George C. Williamson (ed.), The anonimo: Notes on pictures and works of art in Italy made by an anonymous writer in the sixteenth century, Paolo Mussi (trans.), London: George Bell and Sons, 1903, p. 77.

[2]Simone Facchinette, cats 40a and 40b, in Pittura italiana dal rinascimento al XVIII secolo: Capolavori dell’Accademia Carrara di Bergamo, Lausanne: Fondation de l’Hermitage, 2008, p. 146.

[3]Accademia Carrara, Bergamo; Johnston Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art; various private collections.

[4]The golden legend of Jacobus de Voragine, Granger Ryan and Helmut Ripperger (trans.), New York: Arno Press, 1969, p. 392.