St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice

Each religious fraternity (Scuola) decorated the walls of its meeting house with frescos that underscored the cultural and political importance of the fraternity by linking it to the civic and religious traditions of Venice. In the above is a detail of a fresco painted in 1504 by Gentile Bellini in the meeting house of the Fraternity of St. Mark.

St. Mark was the patron saint of Venice, and the above work shows St. Mark preaching in Alexandria, while to the left stand the members of the Fraternity.

Unlike most Renaissance cities, where art patronage was dominated by the ruler’s court, Venetian patronage centered in the Scuole.