Church of San Francesco della Vigna

Bernardino da Asola

Resurrection of Christ

1516, egg tempera on wood

Restored in 1980

Although the attribution of this painting is uncertain, the Resurrection of Christ may be the work of Giovanni da Asola or his son Bernardino, painters from Brescia who worked in Venice from around 1512 to 1530. The painting may have been originally painted for Santa Ternita, a church located near San Francesco della Vigna that was closed after the fall of the Venetian Republic and torn down in the nineteenth century. In this scene Christ emerges from his tomb in the midst of the Venetian countryside. He gives the sign of benediction with his right hand while holding a banner with the Crusaders’ cross (the Jerusalem Cross) in his left. Five soldiers sit on the ground around the tomb, apparently asleep and unaware of the risen Christ. The glowing atmospheric effect throughout the painting is typical of contemporary landscape painting in Venice, inspired by the example of Giovanni Bellini and further developed by Giorgione and his disciples, Sebastiano del Piombo and Titian.

Project Director: Sandro Sponza, Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice
Restorer: Serafino and Feruccio Volpin
UNESCO Program-Association of International Private Committees for the Safeguarding of Venice