Conservation generously sponsored by Pasquale Bruni.

This large altarpiece was originally installed in the Church of Santa Lucia, a convent church that was suppressed by Napoleonic decree on July 28, 1806, and later demolished in 1860 to make way for the construction of Venice’s train station. The commission was entrusted to Jacopo Palma il Giovane in the late 1610s by Giovanni Tiepolo, who would become Patriarch of Venice in 1619. The painting is first mentioned by Giustiniano Martinioni in his Aggiunta to Francesco Sansovino’s Venetia, città nobilissima, et singolare (1663), where he notes that Tiepolo financed “the erection of the altar in honor of the Madonna del Parto; and Jacopo Palma painted the altarpiece.”

The most celebrated painter in Venice at the time, Jacopo Palma il Giovane here presents an altarpiece centered on a rare iconography: the Expectatio Partus, or Madonna del Parto. This subject is drawn from apocryphal sources, most notably the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. As interpreted by Palma, the narrative recounts how Mary, in preparation for giving birth, seeks shelter into  a dark place, “in which there never was light, but always darkness, because the light of day could not reach it. And when the blessed Mary had gone into it, it began to shine with as much brightness as if it were the sixth hour of the day. The light from God so shone in the cave, that neither by day nor night was light wanting as long as the blessed Mary was there. And there she brought forth a son, and the angels surrounded Him when He was being born.”

The scene evokes the Christian doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, affirming that she remained a virgin “before, during, and after” the birth of Christ. This doctrine is notably explored in Tiepolo’s Trattato dell’Immagine della Gloriosa Vergine dipinta da San Luca, published in Venice in 1618, around the time of the altarpiece’s commission and execution. In the Trattato, Tiepolo emphasizes Mary’s perpetual virginity both in conceiving and in giving birth to the Son of God. This theme is reflected in Palma’s painting, where Joseph appears asleep in the background—a traditional motif underscoring the virginal conception—while divine light bathes the scene, presaging the miraculous and painless birth of Christ. Tiepolo, a staunch advocate of sacred images in line with the Council of Trent’s teachings, believed in their power to convey spiritual truths more effectively than written words, which he likened to flowing water that carries away thoughts, whereas images could captivate and inspire. It is likely that Tiepolo closely guided Palma in interpreting the themes of the altarpiece.

The altarpiece was probably last restored in 1862. Since then, the painted surface has extremely darkened due to layers of yellowed varnishes and a substantial accumulation of dust and grime. Additionally, earlier pictorial retouching from past interventions has altered chromatically over time. The conservation treatment will address these issues, enhancing the legibility of the painting and bringing the color palette closer to Palma’s original intention.

Jacopo Palma il Giovane (1548/50 – 1628)
Madonna del Parto
late 1610s, oil on canvas
160 x 320 cm

Mason Rinaldi, Stefania. Palma il Giovane. L’opera complete. Milan: Alfieri & Electa, 1984

Montague Rhodes, James. The apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924

Sansovino, Jacopo. Venetia città nobilissima et singolare […] Con aggiunta di tutte le cose notabili della stessa città, fatte, & occorse dall’anno 1580 sino al presente 1663. Da d. Giustiniano Martinioni. Venice: Steffano Curti, 1663

Tiepolo, Giovanni. Trattato dell’Immagine della Gloriosa Vergine dipinta da San Luca. Venice, Alessandro Polo, 1618