Bartolomeo Vivarini
St. Nicholas

Second half of 15th century
Church of Santo Stefano, Venice

This is a perfect example of the elements of a St. Nicholas portrait. His gloves, chasuble, alb, and crozier clearly mark him as a bishop, but there is no mitre or pallium (which he forfeited at the Council of Nicea). This is one of many portraits in which the three gold balls rest on a closed book in his hand. The beard, often gray or graying, is also nearly universal in Nicholas portraits.

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Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.