Vittore Carpaccio
Martyrdom of St. Stephen

This painting from the collection of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart is around 150 centimetres high and 170 centimetres wide. The landscape format is painted with oil on canvas. 

The picture shows a group of men in the foreground, some of whom are holding fist-sized stones in their hands. A few are aiming at a kneeling man with a halo. In the background, a town rises up on the left next to a mountainous landscape bathed in evening light. 

Stephen, the man with the halo, kneels in front of the wooded mountains at the centre right of the picture. With his hands raised, he looks up into the sky towards an apparition. This is depicted as a golden-orange surface surrounded by grey clouds in the top right-hand corner of the picture. Stephen has shoulder-length wavy light brown hair. He is wearing a richly decorated tunic interwoven with red and gold over a white undergarment. The golden crosses on the tunic and a red stole with a golden cross over his left wrist identify him as a Christian deacon. 

A number of men with turbans, belted robes and boots stand around Stephen. They are picking up stones or have raised them to throw. A man, who can only be seen from behind, is standing on a hill in the centre, pointing to Stephen with his arm outstretched to the right. At his back, in the lower left corner of the picture, are men with long beards and three soldiers. They are wearing breastplates and carrying long swords or halberds. One of the soldiers is wearing different coloured tight leggings with different patterns. 

Near him, at the bottom left of the picture, a man in long red trousers and a black doublet is sitting on the ground. He is also wearing a turban on his head. This is Saul, who will later become St Paul after his conversion. Saul - like Stephen - is looking up into the sky at the golden-orange apparition. 

At the top left of the picture, the closely spaced houses of the town cover a hilltop. Towers rise into the blue sky above. The town is surrounded in a ring by a high wall. From an archway on the left, people stream out of the town on a path. Some are riding horses. Others have stopped and are looking in the direction of the men gathered around Stephen.

"Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, [...] And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened [...] But they cried out with a loud voice and [...] cast him out of the city and stoned him."

The Acts of the Apostles, describing the death of the first Christian martyr. Stephen had been elected as a deacon – that is, a pastor – in the early church in Jerusalem. He was later summoned before the Sanhedrin, the High Council, accused of blasphemy and executed.

Carpaccio sets the scene outside the gates of Jerusalem. The city is visible on the left of the picture. On the right, Stephen kneels and gazes devoutly up at the opening heavens. But the first men have already snatched up some stones and are about to hurl them at the deacon.

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

So who are these men? Carpaccio has given them a wide variety of different characteristics. The men in the white turbans are wearing Ottoman dress. Others have long, white beards and lengths of cloth wrapped around their heads – they're the scribes mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Still others are wearing patterned hose, marking them out as mercenaries from northern Europe.

Once again, Carpaccio turns his back on the historical setting of the bible story in order to update the events he is portraying and bring them into the present. Some of Stephen the Martyr's enemies are the same as those who were threatening the Republic of Venice during his lifetime.

He painted this panel for the Scuola di Santo Stefano – a Venetian lay brotherhood whose members were involved in caring for the poor, among other things. The work is drawn from a five-part cycle that tells the life of Saint Stephen, the brotherhood's patron saint, with the events seemingly compressed into a brief period of time. Check your media guide to see the four surviving works in the cycle. As you look at them, pay particular attention to the light. The young deacon's ordination takes place in bright morning light; the sermon is held at midday, and the disputation before the High Council happens in the afternoon. But the final stoning is bathed in a red glow as evening closes in. 

While you're looking at the various scenes featuring Saint Stephen, you may like to listen to a piece of music by Adrian Willaert. As one of the leading composers of his day, he spent decades working as music director at Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice. He dedicated this motet to the saint: "Beatus Stephanus" – "Blessed St Stephen".

Let us first read from the Acts of the Apostles:

"Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, [...] And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened [...]But they cried out with a loud voice and [...] cast him out of the city and stoned him."

This passage in the Bible is about the death of the first Christian martyr. Stephen was a pastor in the first Christian community in Jerusalem. He was later brought to trial for allegedly insulting God. As punishment, he was stoned.

The stoning takes place outside the gates of Jerusalem. You can see the city on the left of the picture. On the right, Stephen is kneeling and looking up into the sky, which is opening up for him. Some of the men have already thrown stones at Stephen, others are picking some up from the ground or have them in their hands to throw at Stephen straight away.

The Acts of the Apostles describes the moment like this: 

“And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

The men stoning Stephen are dressed very differently. Some wear white turbans, others have long white beards and headscarves – they are the scribes from the Bible. Still others wear patterned trousers and look like European soldiers. Carpaccio shows not only people from Stephen's time, but also enemies who threatened Venice during his lifetime.

Carpaccio painted the picture for a lay brotherhood in Venice that also cared for poor people. The picture is from a series of five pictures. The pictures tell the life of Stephen.

You can view the four surviving images in the media guide. Pay particular attention to the light: Stephen's ordination takes place in the bright morning light, his sermon at midday, his speech before the High Council in the afternoon and the stoning at sunset.