St Stephen is Consecrated Deacon

The scene of St Stephen with Four Followers being Consecrated Deacons by St Peter, now in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, is signed and dated 1511; following his typical composition formula, Carpaccio sets the actual event in the foreground, arranged in a series of figure groups articulated in a scansion that creates separate relationships with the landscape, conceived with depth of field and dotted with a great number of complex architectural structures. The use of motifs from his earlier works, primarily from the San Giorgio degli Schiavoni cycle, and the numerous references to the art of Cima, Giovanni Bellini and even Pisanello, detracts from the unity of composition constructed around a colour web woven with deep and full shadowy areas. The two following canvases are actually more successful in this.