Saint Justina of Padua

A fragment from an altarpiece, this picture shows the early Christian martyr Justina in the guise of an elegantly dressed contemporary of the artist, thereby overlapping an ideal image of a saint with the conventions of portraiture. This is not surprising, for by the 1490s it was not uncommon to have yourself depicted as your patron saint. The palm branch and the sword piercing her breast are the saint's traditional attributes. In 1469 Montagna was associated with Giovanni Bellini; he went on to become the principal painter in Vicenza. (Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)