One of the paintings recently acquired by the CVAR and referring to Caterina Cornaro, presents the queen arriving in Venice. In her entourage we can distinguish two ladies in waiting of short stature, probably midgets. They are dressed in the colours worn by the Queen and holding her mantle. Both these ladies appear in other painting escorting Caterina Cornaro. One of them can be identified as Maria Calepina, daughter of Georgii Calepi, a noble man from Constantinople. According to the testament of Maria Calepina in the Venetian State Archives of 1539, “Maria Calepina was a Cypriot and lady in waiting to the Most Serene Catherine, Queen of the Island of Cyprus”.
You can see this exhibit up close, along with many others, in the 2nd-floor exhibition room of CVAR.
