The Anglican Centre in Rome has chosen for its Christmas card this year a luminous work by Giovanni Bellini and members of his workshop. The image shows the Virgin Mary and the Christ child, flanked by St Peter (holdings the keys of the kingdom of heaven) and John the Baptist, together with the martyrs St Catherine of Alexandria and St Lucy. Both Catherine and Lucy carry palm leaves, commonly used in Renaissance painting as martyr attributes. Catherine is without her usual other attribute, a wheel (on which she was martyred) while Lucy carries her symbol, an oil lamp.  Lucy’s Latin name, Lucia, has connections with lux, the Latin word for light, and with her feast day being December 13, she is traditionally seen as a bearer of light in the darkness of winter.  

The figure of St John the Baptist is similar to that of the saint in Bellini’s Baptism of Christ, an altarpiece in the church of Saint Corona in Vicenza. The Corona altarpiece was painted in 1510, while this work is thought to date from 1515, the year before Bellini died in Venice. The painting made its way into the hands of successive English collectors until it was sold to Jules S Bache in the early twentieth century. It now forms part of the Jules S Bache Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  

The price of the cards are:  

Pack of 10 A5 cards £12 

Pack of 50 A5 cards £60 

Pack of 10 A6 cards £8 

Pack of 50 A6 cards £40 

  

Personalized cards are only in packs of 50 or more: 

Pack of 50 A5 cards £80

Pack of 50 A6 cards £65

 

Postage and packaging are included in the price for UK delivery only. International deliveries will incur postal charges.

If you would like to place an order, please contact [email protected] stating the size and numbers of cards, delivery name and address.  We ask that you pay for the cards via bank transfer, if possible, details as follows.  Kindly insert Christmas card as the reference.

Name: The Anglican Centre in Rome

IBAN: GB98 BUKB 2032 3740 1131 07

Swift bic: BUKBGB22

Sort code: 20-32-37

Account No: 40113107

UK Charity Number 1003666