Attributed to Nikolaos Zafuris active in Crete 1489/93-before 1501

The composition of this painting is based on a work by Giovanni Bellini in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.  A signed version by Zafuris is in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.  Other versions which appear to be by Zafuris are in the Pontificio Collegio Scozzese, Rome, and another that was sold at Sotheby’s Olympia, London, July 8, 2003, lot 304.

Zafuris was a Cretan painter who supervised a workshop in Candia from the late 15th to the early 16th century, a period when Crete was still under Venetian rule.  Though it is not known if Zafuris ever traveled to Italy, he was certainly aware of contemporary Italian art trends and his style reflects a blending of traditional Byzantine and Western syltistic elements.