Vittore Carpaccio
Martyrdom of St. 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".