The Blood of the Redeemer
painting by Giovanni Bellini
The Blood of the Redeemer is a tempera painting on panel executed c. 1460–1465 by the Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini. It is now in the National Gallery, London.
It shows a young Christ holding his cross and an angel collecting the blood from the wound in his side in a chalice similar to that used at mass. This indicates that the work was perhaps originally used as the door to a church tabernacle. There were other angels behind Christ, but these were later painted out with clouds for unknown reasons. In the background are two bas reliefs in ancient Roman style, whose imagery may relate to the painting's themes and meanings.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Blood of the Redeemer” as painting by Giovanni Bellini. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as painting by Giovanni Bellini. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q24939394. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1460 and 1465.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow The Blood of the Redeemer primary sources, The Blood of the Redeemer archive and Blood research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Blood of the Redeemer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.