Tullio Lombardo, St. Mark Baptizes Ammianus
Circa 1481
Marble
Detail from the monument of Doge Giovanni Mocenigo.
Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
Baptism anticipates one's entry into immortality, so the left end of the monument's base pictures the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist, the namesake of the decedent, and the right end shown here pictures the baptism of Annianus by St. Mark, Venice's patron. The conversion of Annianus is the subject of an episode in the Golden Legend's life of St. Mark.
Mark baptized Ammianus in Alexandria. In Lombardo's time it was usual for Egyptians to be pictured in turbans, so the turbaned man behind Ammianus is most likely included to signify the location of the event.
The woman and child on the right are harder to understand. If the boy had wings one might guess he was Cupid, who in the Renaissance was sometimes pictured with Venus and a snake to symbolize fertility. But no wings, so…?
Read more about images of St. Mark.
Source: this page at Wikimedia Commons.
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