Nicola Samorì, Primo Martire

Called by the Benedictine Community of San Giorgio Maggiore, Benedicti Claustra Onlus, to create a work to temporarily replace Vittore Carpaccio's altarpiece Saint George and the Dragon - now on loan to the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart for the exhibition Carpaccio, Bellini und die Frührenaissance in Venedig - the artist from Romagna Nicola Samorì created a painting entitled First Martyr and dedicated to the figure that appears in the background in the Master's canvas: Saint Stephen during his martyrdom. Through a visual and thematic reversal, the saint, depicted in the background of the original scene during his own stoning, as well as co-titular of the Benedictine Monastery together with Saint George, becomes the protagonist of the story, while Saint George turns into a sort of effigy imprinted on Stephen's cloak, in a temporal reversal that sees the First Martyr carry the future upon himself.

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