Restored in 2006 with funding from Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos and Saint David’s School.

Although Bonifacio de’ Pitati is less well known than his great contemporaries, including Titian and Palma il Vecchio, he was in fact the master of a productive workshop in sixteenth-century Venice. Saint Michael Vanquishing the Devil — a comparably unusual subject in Venetian art — is one of his most impressive paintings.

Above a landscape that recalls the Adige river valley near Bonifacio’s hometown of Verona, the Archangel Michael repels Lucifer, the principal fallen angel who had challenged God. Dressed in shining armor and fluttering pink and white garments, Michael raises his sword and stands over his toppled adversary, who struggles to regain his balance by clutching at the robe of the Archangel. Lucifer is no match for Michael physically or aesthetically; his bat-like wings seem frail and powerless compared to those of the Archangel, which resemble the wings of an eagle and extend majestically across the full width of the canvas. The bold three-dimensionality of the muscular figures and the inspired landscape make this one of the artist’s most accomplished paintings.

Signed on the tree trunk to the left and datable on the basis of style to about 1530, this large canvas originally served as the altarpiece for the Cappella di San Michele, a chapel belonging to the Cavalli family located near the high altar of the church. Today the painting is housed in the adjacent Chapel of the Rosary.

The painting was restored by conservator Maristella Volpin, with the guidance of project director Grazia Fumo of the Superintendency of Monuments of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Bonifacio de’ Pitati (1487–1553)
Saint Michael Vanquishing the Devil
c. 1530, oil on canvas
300 x 180 cm