Finding of the Body of Saint Mark

The painting was commissioned by Tommaso Rangone, the “grand guardian” of the Scuola Grande di San Marco in Venice, from Tintoretto as part of a series of large canvases depicting Venice's acquisition of the body of Saint Mark. The painting shows Venetians busily removing corpses from tombs along the right wall and from a crypt in the background. In the left foreground, Saint Mark surrounded by a faint halo appears and beseeches the Venetians to stop as his body has been found and lies pale at his feet, strewn on an oriental rug. In the center of the canvas, an elder (portrait of Rangone) kneels, acknowledging the miracle. Elsewhere in the room, the figures are either astonished or oblivious to the apparition.