The Raising of Lazarus, painted by Sebastiano Luciani (1485-1547) – known after 1531 as Sebastiano del Piombo, when Pope Clement VII gave him the ecclesiastical office of Piombatore, which authorised him to wield the lead papal seal, or piombo – was the first work of art to enter the National Gallery’s collection. The decision to celebrate its acquisition coincides with the 500th anniversary of its commission in 1517.
By that time Sebastiano had been in Rome since 1511, having been brought there from Venice by the immensely rich Sienese banker Agostino Chigi to work on the decorations of the Villa Farnesina.
