Supper at Bethany

Coming to the town of Bethany, Jesus and his disciples were invited to a supper in the house of Lazarus. When they sat down at the table, Mary Magdalene, sister of Lazarus, anointed Jesus' feet with costly perfume and wiped it with her hair. Considered to be a prefiguration of Jesus' death and burial, this story was one of the popular subjects in Christian art. The Blanton's painting belongs to a series of fifteen panels that illustrate important moments from the life of Jesus. As a whole, they would have formed a part of a large altarpiece and functioned as the Bible for those who could not read. In order to enhance the illusion of space, Bernardino Butinone constructs the scene using linear perspective that was developed earlier in the century.